When e-commerce started to grow and more and more carriers started delivering parcels, Gregory thought something could be done about missed deliveries that came with. He founded ParcelHome together with a strong team consisting of experts in the fields of logistics, IT & electronics and outdoor furniture. After very positive feedback from e-tailers, postal networks and carriers, he started raising capital from May 2013.
A panel of judges composed of experienced VCs coming from Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Spain, Switzerland and the UK and investing in all the high growth areas of Internet, IT, Cleantech, MedTech and Life Sciences voted Greg Mackin and its team with their company ParcelHome the Winner of the Harvard Business School New Venture Competition for Europe and Israel. This crowned a year of hard work and gave all extra energy.
With the support of the international carriers DHL Parcel, DPD, GLS, Bpost and PostNL the ParcelHome's 'smart box' was launched in Belgium with a pilot project in Mechelen. 100 people participated in the project and used the ParcelHome for one year. The project was a success. The ParcelHome team used the participants feedback to improve the new generation of ParcelHome units over the coming year. The success of the project brought a lot of press coverage with. It boosted the general awareness of the company in Belgium and interest to purchase.
A new generation of the smart box, the ParcelHome 2 was launched based on the insights of the pilot test. The product got improved in terms of size, design and user experience. A select group of early adoptors in Belgium and France had the opportunity to buy it. The first parcel boxes became visible on the streets.
ParcelHome partners with a major box manufacturer, which enables the company to scale up. At the same time the company invests in its branding and a user-friendly e-commerce platform on which the ParcelHome 3 got launched on various European markets. Besides Belgium, the ParcelHome 3 is available in France, The Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom.
Based on customer demand, the product offering got expanded towards a new colour, black. Also the ParcelHome team continuously expands to serve the different markets as best as possible. Motivated employees with multilingual skills in areas such as marketing, sales, logistics, and customer support are joining the company.
Greg is a finance and project management expert; he drives the international expansion of ParcelHome and new commercial offerings. Greg will not rest until he gets bakery delivered by drone in his ParcelHome on Sunday mornings – a noble cause.
Jean-Michel is an IT & Technology specialist and is in charge of coordinating electronics developments and IT developments at ParcelHome. Having built is own house, Jean-Michel is an expert in home automation systems – smart homes rule!!
Margot is a marketing expert focusing on getting as many ParcelHomes in the streets of Belgium and the Netherlands as possible. Her dream is to have all the shoes of the London Fashion Week directly delivered in her ParcelHome.
Emmanuel takes care of the finance, logistic and production issues at ParcelHome. Emmanuel is convinced that ParcelHome can radically change the local delivery ecosystem; he can’t wait for all the houses in his street having one.
Lise is in charge of customer service and marketing. She likes that ParcelHome can make deliveries more ecological by guaranteeing first time deliveries and giving opportunities to local shops. Lise loves to have her dried flowers, books and strawberry tarts delivered in her ParcelHome without those being damaged.
