ParcelSea raises money to build smart mailbox network

ParcelSea, a last-mile tech startup from Estonia, has raised 935,000 euros to build a smart mailbox network in Estonia and foreign markets. The Tallinn-based company wants to expand production and continue building new features and services.

With ecommerce booming and contactless pickups becoming more and more popular, ParcelSea has been on a fast development trajectory. Now it wants to focus on new services such as a freezer department for food, parcel delivery and return and various smart home solutions.

The mailbox fits up to five grocery bags.

Open to all couriers

Its current solution is a personal locker for parcel deliveries. The mailbox is made of three sections and fits various package sizes, letters and up to five grocery bags. The Estonian company uses a open solution approach, which means that basically all couriers and grocery stores can leave their packages.

More packages than letters or newspapers

With the smart mailboxes, ParcelSea currently focuses on private-, terraced and semi-detached houses. “We want to offer a smart home mailbox that is always at home and ready to accept all packages, food and friend-to-friend goods without human contact”, CEO and co-founder Andres Sampka explains. “Today, there are more packages delivered home than letters or newspapers. Ordinary mailboxes are often sitting empty”, CTO and co-founder Indrek Jürgenson adds.

1,000 boxes across Estonia

The company currently has 9 team members and pre-orders have already exceeded the expectations. Most orders come from larger cities and their suburbs. ParcelSea will start installing several hundred personal mailboxes in a couple of weeks. By the end of the year, the goal is to have at least 1,000 boxes functioning across Estonia.

At the end of the summer, ParcelSea will start its first pilot project in foreign markets: Finland and Sweden. On the long term, the company wants to have its smart mailboxes installed all around the world.