UK logistics firm Hived nabs $42m in Series B funding
Investment was reportedly led by NordicNinja plus a group of HIVED’s existing investors, including Planet A, Wex Venture Capital, Marunouchi Innovation Partners, Elemental Impact, Yamato Holdings, Future Back Ventures by Bain and Co plus Rocketship VC. This follows a seed funding round in 2021 and a Series A announcement in 2023. These earlier funding rounds have aided HIVED in its growth journey, which has seen it deliver more than 6.5 million parcels across Greater London to date.
Now, HIVED wants to expand its network beyond London, which will initially mean an expansion of its all-electric fleet to ‘southern UK cities’, although no information has yet been shared on exactly which cities this will be. HIVED CEO Murvah Iqbal – a former Manchester City footballer – has merely stated: “We aim to cover 80% of the UK within the next two years. That’s what we’re on track for.”
This could be significant for electric logistics in the UK, given that HIVED bills itself as the only delivery network to currently use electric vehicles ‘end-to-end’. Indeed, efforts to expand beyond London appear to be underway; earlier this year, HIVED announced it plans to install megawatt chargers not only in London but also in the Midlands and Manchester next year. These will be used for its long-haul eActros 600 trucks, of which it ordered nine earlier this year.
HIVED’s electric fleet is notably integrated with its HIVEDmind platform, which it states uses AI to sync up retailers, drivers, customers and fleet managers through one single system, including routing and refuelling. Iqbal has stated that the company is looking at the possibility of expanding this software into other markets beyond the UK, or even licensing out this technology.
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