Last-mile delivery startup Trexity has more fuel to power its cross-Canada expansion drive.
A pair of Quebec-based funds, AQC Capital and Anges Québec, have invested a total of $1 million in the Ottawa-based startup, the firm announced Thursday.
Trexity, which finalized a $5-million seed round in May, currently provides on-demand package and food delivery services in Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary, Toronto and Winnipeg.
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The company, which was founded in 2019 by ex-Shopify executive Alok Ahuja and his business partners Mathieu Bouchard and Darren Schnare, says the latest investment will help finance its upcoming move into Montreal and Vancouver as it continues to extend its geographic reach.
“We walked through our vision, and both AQC Capital and Anges Québec just plain got it,” Ahuja said in a statement. “Their investment and knowhow is absolutely elemental for our business – both technically as well as our future expansion into the province of Quebec.”
Same-day delivery
Nearly 1,000 merchants – including well-known Ottawa retailers such as Dominion City Brewing, Happy Goat Coffee and Kettleman’s Bagel Co. – now use Trexity to provide same-day delivery to customers via a network of thousands of drivers.
In addition to growing its Canadian footprint, the company also plans to set up shop in select mid-sized U.S. cities in the near future as it tries to carve out in a niche in a crowded space that includes household names like Uber Eats and DoorDash, as well as up-and-coming same-day delivery software startups such as Tyltgo, StoreToDoor, Swyft and another fast-growing Ottawa company, GoFor.
Despite the stiff competition, Ahuja told Techopia last spring he likes his company’s chances.
“There’s a lot of room here, and this won’t be won by one specific player,” he said.
AQC Capital chief executive Serge Beauchemin said Trexity has the talent and technological expertise to become a mainstay in a fast-growing industry.
“We believe that delivery services that are predictable, secure, real-time traceable and deliverable the same day will increasingly be an essential component to the success of all online merchants,” Beauchemin said in a statement.
The 23-person company doesn’t charge merchants monthly fees or take a commission. Trexity charges a flat-rate delivery fee, which is included in the purchase price of delivered items.
Trexity then bills retailers for the amount of the fee. Drivers – independent contractors who pay for their own gas and other car-related expenses – receive 70 per cent of the total delivery charge, with the company keeping the rest.
Partnership with Shopify
Trexity also benefits from partnerships with e-commerce platforms Shopify and Bold Commerce, which allow merchants who use their software to sign up with Trexity at the click of a mouse.
And unlike some competitors who pay licensing fees to access delivery-tracking technology, Trexity has its own system that taps into Google Maps, Mapbox and other services to provide real-time tracking of each order using GPS. The software automatically “bundles” deliveries in the same neighbourhood, helping drivers find the fastest, most efficient routes to their destinations.
“When you create these dense pockets of deliveries, it’s very cost-effective,” Ahuja told Techopia. “When we launched bundling, it took our company to a whole other level.”
The firm, which says hundreds of merchants use its platform every day, is projecting full-year revenues of between $1.5 million and $2.2 million. Ahuja has made no secret of his hope that Trexity will become the first choice of customers around the world for last-mile delivery.
“For me, it’s global domination or nothing,” he said last May. “I want it all. We can take this as far as we want to take it. There’s nothing that’s really going to stop us.”
