Benzinga | Jun 29, 2021 04:07PM EDT

SoftBank-Backed ShipBob Raises $200M In Bain-Led Round, Gains Unicorn Status: Reuters

* SoftBank Group Corp (OTC:SFTBY) (OTC:SFTBF) backed cloud-based logistics platform, ShipBob, has raised $200 million in a Bain Capital Ventures led late-stage funding round, Reuters reported.

* The funding round more than doubled its valuation, lifting it to unicorn status of $1 billion or more.

* Other participants include existing investors SoftBank Group, Menlo Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels, and Silicon Valley Bank.

* ShipBob had raised $68 million in a SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led-round in September. Bain Capital Ventures had also led ShipBob's Series B round in June 2017.

* ShipBob's offering brings together leading e-commerce platforms and marketplaces, including Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP), Square Inc (NYSE:SQ), and Wix.com Ltd (NASDAQ:WIX) to enable merchants to manage products, inventory, orders, and shipments.

* The additional investment from Bain Capital Ventures and Series E will aid ShipBob in strategic, long-term investments in its product and technology, co-founder and President Divey Gulati said.

* ShipBob was launched through Y Combinator, Silicon Valley's prominent incubator and startup fund, by Gulati and Dhruv Saxena, its CEO.

* Over 5,000 businesses use ShipBob's platform. It has 24 fulfillment centers across five countries, including U.S., Canada, England, Ireland, and Australia.