London delivery platform raises seven-figure sum for "much-needed change of direction"

A London SaaS platform has raised £2.5m to expand its vision as the world’s first fully-integrated delivery management system.

Ryde, the SaaS platform for last-mile delivery, has announced today that it has raised the money, with its ‘mission’ is to unlock hyperlocal last-mile delivery for every business in every industry.

Though its founders Tom Nimmo and Duncan Mitchell both have experience in the SaaS sector with a cleaning marketplace and tech-enabled hospitality respectively, Ryde is a change in direction.

CEO Mitchell said: “When Covid hit, we had to think on our feet. 100 per cent of our customer base went into lock-down overnight, and we were under pressure to find a way forward.”

He continued: “When we explored last-mile delivery, we discovered a few interesting things. Firstly, the workforce was hugely disenfranchised. Secondly, businesses big and small could not meet consumer demand effectively and lastly, there was no fit for purpose solution that allowed companies to truly take control of delivery management.”

Ryde has developed a ‘rider first’ philosophy, to put workforce wellbeing at the heart of its decision making, meaning the rethink of everything from how gig workers receive and engage with their jobs to how the internal team supports them. With Ryde’s app, workers will be able to blend scheduled and hourly shift jobs with on-demand work.

Its client list already includes Ocado, Gorillas, Dija, and Slerp, and it hopes to expand further.

CTO Nimmo said: “We feel that at the moment, being an on-demand delivery worker sucks! Your job is essentially to sit on the street and hope for the best. Sometimes you get to work, other times, you don’t. As we’ve built our rider app, we’ve focused a lot on improving this experience for them.”

The seed round was co-led by Forward Partners and Triple Point, with participation from current investors Seedcamp and Swiss Founders Fund.

Luke Smith, partner at Forward, said: “Last-mile delivery is increasingly important for retailers and Ryde can enable seamless delivery for any business whilst improving the experience for gig workers. We’re very excited to be backing them on their journey to become a key part of the e-commerce infrastructure.”

Daniel Cardenas-Clark, investor at Triple Point, said: “We have been immensely impressed with what Duncan and Tom have achieved and couldn’t be more excited to be supporting them on their mission to win the blended service category.”

He finished by saying: “The ‘rider first’ philosophy positions Ryde on the right side of history as far as treating gig workers is concerned and is a much-needed change of direction in the industry.”