Darkstore, the tech-driven fulfillment solution to enable e-commerce companies to offer same-day delivery, just raised a $21 million Series B round led by EQT Ventures. The deal will bring EQT principal Laura Yao to Darkstore’s board of directors.
This Series B round comes less than one year after Darkstore raised a $7.5 million Series A round. In total, Darkstore has raised more than $30 million in funding.
Darkstore works by exploiting excess capacity in storage facilities, malls and bodegas and enables them to be fulfillment centers with just a smartphone. The idea is that brands without local inventory can store it in a Darkstore and then ship out same-day. Darkstore charges brands across three areas: fulfillment, storage and delivery.
“Consumer expectations are relentless,” Yao told TechCrunch via email. “We want things now, now, now. Obviously, it’s in a brand’s best interest to be able to meet those demands. The amazing team at Darkstore has built a platform-agnostic, cost-effective way for brands to do so, and in the process has unlocked a new revenue stream for urban infrastructure, and created valuable partnerships with last-mile delivery services.”
Currently, Darkstore has more than 600 fulfillment centers across 39 cities in the U.S., including Honolulu, Toledo, Ohio and Omaha, Neb.
Darkstore is unable to share the full roster of its customers, but it has worked with the likes of Nike, premium headphones maker Master & Dynamic, mattress startup Tuft & Needle and others. With the additional funding, Darkstore plans to grow the general team, as well as the management team.
Yao added, “We’ve worked with Lee [founder Lee Hnetinka] and the team for over a year and have been able to see this Darkstore flywheel come to life, and are excited to see what the future holds.”
