Shippit expand growth in APAC with latest acquisition

The new deal, reported to be worth AUD$18 million, sees Shippit acquiring Southeast Asian startup Luwjistik – creators of a programming interface enabling freight forwarders, couriers and third party logistics companies opportunities to connect with global network partners. 

As a part of Shippit’s acquisition of the startup, Shippit co-founder and co-CEO William On is expected to relocate to Singapore to oversee the logistics tech platform’s ongoing plans for expansion in the Southeast Asia region.

“Today is an incredibly exciting day for Shippit and the realisation of a vision we’ve held since starting out in 2014. Adding Luwjistik to the Shippit group bolsters our team with Co-founders who possess significant industry knowledge and relationships that will transform our go-to-market strategy in the region,” said On in a statement, “This strategic move will expand our growing and scaling business through product localisation and new market entry beyond Singapore. By offering multi-partner shipping from Luwjistik’s carrier partners, it’ll also enable us to diversify our offering; enabling small-to-medium sized logistics providers to expand their reach by accessing Luwjistik network partners.”

“Southeast Asia is a burgeoning eCommerce market and we’re incredibly excited to expand our presence in Singapore, and across the region.”

Shippit’s expansion plans in Southeast Asia and Singapore, particularly, come at a unique time, with Singapore having gained considerable ground on Hong Kong as the ‘wealth hub’ of Asia within the last 12 months. Harsh COVID-19 restrictions and civil unrest in Hong Kong in the years since 2019 have increasingly seen businesses and entrepreneurs pivot to embrace Singapore as business destination of choice in the Asia region, assisted largely in part by Singapore’s comparative success in handling the COVID pandemic and perceptions of superior political stability in the nation.

The e-commerce market, particularly, saw a value of more than US$5 billion in 2021 with expectations this will rise to at least US$10 billion by 2026.

Shippit’s newest step forward in its foray into the Southeast Asia region follows an earlier acquisition in March of this year of Australian last mile technology firm Premonition, as it simultaneously looks to reaffirm its success locally. 

“We couldn’t be more excited to have Premonition as part of the Shippit Group,” said Shippit’s co-founder On at the time, “Over the past two and half years we have witnessed an unprecedented shift to online shopping, which has created an overwhelming demand for last-mile logistics providers.”

“Together, Shippit and Premonition will empower carriers to improve efficiencies in how they operate by up to 30%. This, in turn, will improve delivery experiences for our online retailers and their customers.”

The excitement at the deal and resulting partnership was shared by Premonition co-CEO Brad Lorge who said, “Shippit and Premonition are uniquely placed to lead the eCommerce delivery revolution for carriers and retailers alike. Our new home at Shippit means we can continue our mission of making carriers’ lives easier and delivering meaningful innovation.”

Market response to Shippit’s acquisition of Premonition saw the Australian platform secure a successful AUD$65 million Series B2 capital raise in May, a success in turn enabling Shippit’s latest deal acquiring Luwjistik and the continuation of its hopes for ongoing expansion in the Southeast Asia region.

“We’re incredibly proud of our Australian heritage, and now we’re excited to double-down on our commitment to powering a more sustainable eCommerce industry on a global scale. This raise will enable us to cement our position as the industry-leader in Australia and scale in South-East Asia, “ On said in response to May’s successful capital raise, “Southeast Asia is the fastest growing e-commerce market in the world, and with a population twice the size of North America, it has limitless potential.”

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