Logistics Giant Invests in what3words Address System

what3words, the multi-award-winning addressing platform, has closed a USD8.5 million Series B funding round led by global logistics giant Aramex. Existing investors Intel Capital and British funds Force Over Mass Capital and Mustard Seed also participated.

Aramex operates in 60 countries around the world and will use what3words in its e-commerce fulfilment operations across the Middle East, Asia and Africa to further enhance its last-mile delivery solutions.

what3words is an address system based on a global grid of 57 trillion 3mx3m squares, where each square has a unique pre-assigned 3-word address. The solution helps everyone who needs to find or share a location - whether they are navigation apps, governments, logistics firms, travel guides or NGOs. what3words is currently available in 10 languages and is being used in more than 170 countries.

Aramex’s integration of the technology into its e-commerce operations demonstrates its commitment to investing in innovative solutions, to not only enhance its business operations, but make the logistics and transportation industry more efficient and effective.

Deliveries

Aramex’s investment and implementation will rapidly extend what3words’ growing reach in the delivery, logistics and courier industries. In the past few months logistics software provider Blackbay, address verification platform Allies, and the leading supplier of Ireland's new Eircode system AutoAddress, have all integrated what3words to increase efficiency and expand their range of customer delivery points. British firm Direct Today Couriers have reduced the number of failed deliveries by 83% since using 3 word addresses.

In May, Mongolia’s state-owned postal delivery service Mongol Post adopted what3words as a national addressing standard.  Mongolia covers an area nearly the size of the European Union, but has no consistent addressing system to serve its 3 million citizens, 30% of whom are nomadic, roaming an area of more than 1.5 million square kilometres.

Voice recognition

what3words will use the new investment to launch its voice recognition product in the smartphone, wearables, and automotive sectors and develop its 3-word address system in several Asian languages. The investment will also support the launch of an Arabic version, growth of its team and further global expansion.

Since its launch in 2013, what3words has experienced tremendous success and with over twenty major awards has become one of the most lauded UK start-ups in recent times. In 2015, the company was awarded the prestigious Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Innovation and was named in the Nominet 100 alongside the likes of Google. Earlier this year the business was awarded an exclusive D&AD Black Pencil, two prestigious Webby Awards and named EY’s British Accelerating Entrepreneur.