and another week goes buy with another round of funding for another company thats getting into the shipping business, this will value the company at $250,000,000 and Im sure by end of 2015 after another 2-3 rounds of funding it will put the value up by $750,000,000 valuing it at a billion dollars..... Start-up Shyp has raised $50 million in a round of funding led by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, bringing its total funding to date to $62.2 million, the company said Tuesday. San Francisco-based Shyp is the latest start-up aiming to upend an existing, and hugely profitable, business, in this case the $300 billion shipping industry. Here's how it works: If a customer wants to return a pair of pants to, say, J.Crew, he would download the app, snap a photo of the pants and request a pick up at his home or office. Shyp takes care of the rest for a flat fee of $5 in addition to the cost of shipping. The company finds the least expensive way to mail the item, whether that's through the U.S. Postal Service, UPS or FedEx. The service is now available in San Francisco, New York, Miami and will launch in Los Angeles next month. Past investors including Homebrew and Sherpa Ventures also contributed to the round, in addition to independent investors such as entrepreneurs Kevin Rose and Rent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman. "Today, we're aimed at just consumers, but we're growing the market," Shyp CEO Kevin Gibbon told CNBC. "So I think the existing opportunity is large, but the idea of expanding is really exciting." Since its last funding round in the summer of 2014, Shyp says its number of shipments has jumped by nearly 500 percent, and customer growth remains steady, surpassing 20 percent month over month. This growth is due in part to partnerships with companies such as Banana Republic and other retailers to beef up its popular "Shyp Returns" program in which the company will pick up and package the item as well as process the free return for customers. Shyp also supports returns for retailers like Target and Nordstrom. Of course, the margins of Shyp's business aren't publicly disclosed at this point, but the company does lease warehouses as well as pay workers to pick up and mail packages. So it's hard to imagine how it could be a very profitable business at least right now. But Gibbon insists that will change as his company scales. "I don't want to necessarily say, as a business, when or if we'd be profitable," he said. "But, for us, it's all about growth and, as much as we can invest in growth, I think we'll be better long term as a business." At least one legendary investor in Silicon Valley is a dedicated Shyp fan: Kleiner's John Doerr announced Tuesday that he is joining the start-up's board of directors.
What's the point of this service? pay $5.00 for what the post office, UPS, FEDEX and a host of others do for free??--- pick up at your home or wherever--- What's the edge here?? what am i missing?
"The company finds the least expensive way to mail the item, whether that's through the U.S. Postal Service, UPS or FedEx. The service is now available in San Francisco, New York, Miami and will launch in Los Angeles next month."
Huh? Anyone can find the least expensive shipping method via the internet. Heck, if it fits, it ships for an ultra low price by USPS. Makes no sense to pay $5 on top. surf
I agree with that $5.00 on top of the shipping prices, it doesn't make sense....it seems today though everyone has this thought in their heads that time is precious and time is money, that doing these little things aren't worth going out of the way for, there are lots of services that are catering to that type of individual.... but the other thing I don't understand is that companies are now offering free shipping and free returns (nordstroms and zappos) these are just 2 and Im sure in the next 5 years most companies will be offering the same thing, shipping prices will be baked into the price of the product like amazon prime 2 day or 1 day....now someone who likes free shipping both ways will likely not want to pay $5.00 for someone to pick up a box but who knows, maybe Ups and fedx will offer some kind of service in the future....
Yes, but the post office and everyone else offers free pick up-- why bring a 3rd party into the mix. I must be missing something.
what you are missing is that this company is now valued at a cool $250,000,000 and they probably have zero profits
I know that if I have a small package that needs to be returned I can leave it in the mailbox and the mailman will actually take it and drop it off at the post office for free....thats why Im thinking where shyp comes into play and why its so desperately needed and why its worth $250,000,000