Whitebox, an e-commerce and logistics company headquartered in Curtis Bay, announced Tuesday morning that it has raised $20 million.
CEO Marcus Startzel said this latest round of fundraising will fuel even more growth for a company that has been expanding rapidly. In August 2020, Whitebox moved from South Baltimore into a new 365,000-square-foot headquarters in Curtis Bay that was formerly an Under Armour facility. A month later, the company announced it had raised $18 million.
"It's been an amazing few years of growth," said Startzel, who is about to celebrate his third anniversary as CEO of the startup.
Startzel said the company also has warehouses in Las Vegas, and Memphis, and employs 228 people, including 157 in the Baltimore area.
According to Startzel, WhiteBox is poised for even more growth in 2022 — thanks in large part to its unique space in the industry.
The company does both logistics and data analytics for medium and large companies. What does that mean? Startzel used a coffee company as an example.
The company might sell coffee products through its own website, Shopify, Amazon and retail stores, but it’s really Whitebox that handles the distribution. The coffee company ships its product to Whitebox, which then handles fulfills orders on behalf of the company. Over time, Whitebox accumulates and analyzes consumer data, Startzel said, and can help companies make smarter decisions.
If Whitebox noticed repeated orders of chocolate coffee products and vanilla coffee products, Startzel said Whitebox would approach the coffee company about creating a variety pack. Whitebox tracks data about advertisements, keywords, customers, different brands, buying patterns — information that Startzel said can lead to valuable insights for the company.
The $20 million in funding was led by Delta-v Capital, an out-of-state firm that primarily invests in tech companies, and supported by existing investors, including Noro-Moseley Partners, TDF Ventures, MRE Capital and Kilkea Charles. With the latest round, Whitebox is now backed by more than $45 million to date.
Part of the $20 million raised will go toward Whitebox's e-commerce site, Startzel said, and some will go toward building out the startup's team.
“We’ve got a really amazing team who come from many different backgrounds,” Startzel said, including veterans from the tech and advertising industry as well as Amazon.
Startzel said Whitebox currently has job openings posted on its website and expects to be posting more jobs throughout 2022.
