E-commerce startup Stord buys AI fulfillment platform Shipwire
Yuichiro Chino | Moment | Getty Images
E-commerce logistics startup Stord has bought CEVA Logistics subsidiary Shipwire, the company said Monday.
The deal, which closed Jan. 1 for a undisclosed amount, adds 12 new locations to Stord’s growing logistics network and about 60 new employees. Shipwire is an AI fulfillment platform used by e-commerce firms.
“This is a great network, great customers, great team to pull onto our technology and our combined scale,” CEO Sean Henry told CNBC. “And with that scale, it spins our flywheel up.”
The deal also brings dozens of new large and mid-market customers and a host of AI-powered internal execution, planning and routing tools to Stord’s network, he added.
Stord will look to partner with CEVA’s 120 million square foot network across 170 countries.
This is the seventh acquisition from the Atlanta-based startup that’s challenging e-commerce giants such as Amazon by building out a network of infrastructure to help lower shipping costs and speed up deliveries for smaller merchants.
Stord is part of a crowded market of startups that provide logistics and fulfillment services to online businesses, including ShipBob, Flexport’s Deliverr, Cart.com and Shipmonk.
Demand for these services has only continued to grow as more consumers shop online, and as merchants increasingly operate storefronts on multiple platforms.
Amazon has sought to capitalize on the trend by offering a competing service that lets businesses tap into its network to ship orders placed on other sites, called multi-channel fulfillment.
Stord has been on an expansion spree.
In May, Stord bought third-party delivery company and UPS subsidiary Ware2Go for an undisclosed amount earlier this year.
The company previously acquired Pitney Bowes’ e-commerce fulfillment business and freight and logistics platform ProPack in 2024. Stord recently announced a major investment plan in Kentucky and tech platform Penny Black.
Henry told CNBC that the company is looking to make more acquisitions like Shipwire over the coming months and is eyeing expansions into Australia and Asia. Stord’s current network includes facilities in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and the Netherlands.
Last year, Stord raised $200 million at $1.5 billion valuation. Major investors include Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Salesforce Ventures and Strike Capital.
Stord was founded in 2015 by 18-year-old Henry, who dropped out of the Georgia Institute of Technology to pursue the prestigious Thiel Fellowship, which was founded by Peter Thiel.
The two-year program currently pays aspiring entrepreneurs $200,000 to quit college to build their startups, according to its website. Famous fellows have included design software firm Figma‘s Dylan Field, Anthropic’s Chris Olah and ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin.
CNBC’s Annie Palmer contributed to this article.
