UAE-based One Click Delivery Services, a last-mile logistics tech startup, has raised undisclosed amount of funding from Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) in its first external investment round. With a technology platform that connects delivery agents with businesses needing on-demand delivery, One Click’s platform facilitates food delivery, e-commerce, groceries, and parcel delivery, among others. The company considers their solution a win-win, and says end users enjoy on-demand affordable last-mile delivery, and companies are saved from the hassle of managing a fleet of drivers. Having enabled “over one million orders” to date, and growing at 36% month-on-month, One Click recently expanded operations in Muscat, and is looking to further extend its reach to other cities in the MENA and South-East Asia region in 2018.

“We will use the new capital to expand our operations beyond UAE, accelerate our rapid growth, further develop our proprietary technology and continue to build our team with passionate and success driven people,” says Hassan Hallas, co-founder and CEO of One Click. “It’s exciting because more than ever, we feel like we now have the capacity to redefine the last mile delivery industry, ensuring seamless and technology-enabled last mile delivery service for consumers and businesses.”

Speaking about the origins of the startup, Hallas explains how the founders saw a gap in the way MENA’s businesses didn’t fully utilize their delivery fleets efficiently, and this inefficiency was the catalyst for their business model. “We were able to incentivize the drivers more by providing more deliveries from different verticals, and at the same time creating more efficacy and reducing the cost significantly,” he says. “By working across different verticals, we are able to effectively utilize drivers throughout the day, and solve the overcapacity problems created by demand peaks.”

As a self-funded enterprise since its launch over a year ago, the founder is grateful to MEVP for their belief in One Click’s vision and ability to achieve their business goals. “Funding is difficult, and can be challenging for early-stage businesses in today’s economic climate. What helped us gain interest from investors and receive funding was that we had impressive numbers, and had achieved our KPI objectives,” says Hallas. He believes it was their business traction coupled with an experienced team and a robust demand pipeline that clinched the deal for them.

MEVP Partner and Chief Investment Officer Walid Mansour shares the sentiment. “We were impressed by One Click’s team, operational capabilities, technology, and approach,” he notes. “Out of all the companies we have seen, One Click has created an economically sustainable model that has made last-mile logistics a viable business. The founders have, in a very short time, demonstrated that they can make this model work, and grow it significantly, empowering the digital economy with last mile logistics- a critical element for many of today’s businesses.” Interestingly, this is the MENA-focused VC firm’s first investment in the logistics tech startup space.

The logistics industry itself has seen entry of quite a few technology companies, which have tried to simplify the inherent challenges associated with last mile delivery in the region. Some of these enterprises such as Fetchr, Trukkr and Wing etc. have been around a while, and have managed to raise substantial growth capital to scale. I ask Hallas if such established competition deters their efforts, and he disagrees. “Our proprietary technology allows us to offer some interesting new advantages over other last mile delivery service providers,” he says. “Specifically, increased vehicle and driver utilization, high successful delivery rate, and reduced waiting time for customers. We have built a unique business model where we could effectively utilize drivers throughout the day and solve the overcapacity problems created by demand peaks.”

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