By Nick Carey
LONDON (Reuters) - Fin Sustainable Logistics said on Tuesday it has acquired Urb-it, giving it access to the bankrupt sustainable delivery company's customers including Alibaba (NYSE:BABA)'s AliExpress, Inditex (BME:ITX)'s Zara, and its technology.
London-based Fin was launched in 2022 and uses a fleet of all-electric cargo bikes and vans to deliver tens of thousands of packages a day for customers like HelloFresh (OTC:HLFFF) and Ikea.
Stockholm-based Urb-it provided zero-emission deliveries in Spain, France and the UK, but filed for bankruptcy in December and was delisted from Nasdaq.
A number of European and U.S. delivery company startups are racing to serve the growing market for zero-emission last-mile deliveries in cities before giant shippers do the same.
Fin CEO Rich Pleeth told Reuters the company has experienced huge demand for its zero-emission deliveries, but integrating with the technology of eager prospective customers like AliExpress, who want to sign up with Fin, takes many months.
Acquiring Urb-it, with which Fin has been in talks since last June, means the company is now integrated with many new customers, including Chinese e-tailer Shein, Alibaba's logistics arm Cainiao, and online retail platform.
Fin operates with few office staff and relies on artificial intelligence and machine learning for sales outreach. The company now expects to grow fourfold in 2024.
Pleeth said he could not disclose terms of the Urb-it deal.
He added Fin had "already turned off" Urb-it's operations outside London in the short term because "they were not operating at a profitable margin, they were winning parcels at all costs."
But Fin will expand in the UK and hopes to launch in three European cities and New York this year, he said.
"We've managed to grow significantly quicker than we thought and there are going to be some more acquisitions to follow," Pleeth said.
Fin has so far raised around $5 million and its lead U.S. investor is MaC Venture Capital.