The Argentine startup clicOH has just entered the list of top companies of Y Combinator, where it is described as “Amazon-level logistics for e-commerce companies in LatAm.” In May, they raised US$25 million (Series A led by Tiger Global) and have just hired seven executives from major startups in the region to boost its expansion. Emiliano Segura, the co-founder of clicOH, answered Contxto’s questionnaire.
1. What problem does clicOH solve?
Only a very small group of e-commerce companies could ensure that they have their logistics solved and that, in the event of peak demand, they would not have any inconvenience with their customers. At clicOH we offer any e-commerce or online store a comprehensive logistics solution. Our clicOH Full service allows you to completely outsource the process of stock management, storage, packaging, and shipping to the end customer. The result? Without losing control and tracking of its shipments, the company relieves its burden by outsourcing the logistics work to clicOH and concentrates on what it does best: selling its products.
2. How is clicOH different from other startups that have tried this idea before?
We provide a complete end-to-end solution with many advantages over standard market operations. There are four keywords that define the service: digitization, process automation, visibility, and shopping experience. The first two streamline processes and allow us to extract crucial data for better decision-making in stock management, delivery time reduction, cost control, vehicle, and delivery route optimization, and other operational tasks. Then, when we offer visualization and tracking of the entire shipping process, both to the e-commerce and the end customer, they value it highly: transparency generates a trusted effect necessary to never stop monitoring the status of each package. Finally, we know that the customer experience is not only formed during the purchase but that the delivery is becoming more and more important in the perception of the brand. The satisfaction of the final customer defines a lot of our view of the whole service we offer.
3. How sustainable is it?
Latin America does not yet have the means and resources to operate 100% environmentally friendly transportation. Both in terms of quantity and models, automakers cannot provide clean energy vehicles to the entire logistics sector. However, this is no excuse for not taking action on the issue of environmental care, a sensitive point which is always under observation by the end customer.
Any logistics operator today has many technological tools at hand to reduce the impact on the environment. In transportation, the main one is to have a Transport Management System, powerful software that optimizes the use of vehicles, tracing intelligent routes to arrive faster and avoid the circulation of two vehicles in close areas at the same time. Another indirect way to shorten vehicle traffic is to store products close to where the largest number of consumers are concentrated, something that can be identified by analyzing large volumes of data from incoming purchase orders. These and other initiatives focused on green packaging are still being explored and will not expire, even when the transport fleet is fully electrified.
4. What achievement of your company are you most proud of?
The fact that since August 2022, clicOH is part of the Top Companies ranking of Y Combinator, the world’s largest accelerator, is an objective sign that it is not only us who are convinced, but that other recognized players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem see in our operation a potential to solve real problems for companies. Our goal is to reach the top 10 of this list, and we believe that we will achieve it to the extent that we solve the great challenges that e-commerce logistics in the region presents. Among them, perhaps the most important is to find all the ways to improve the shopping experience of end customers, a central point to measure our management.
5. A Latin American startup you admire and why.
Mercado Libre. For its resilience: it overcame extremely difficult contexts (dotcom boom) and managed through effort and remarkable austerity to move forward and become, over the years, the most valuable company in LatAm. For being one of the few companies that succeeded in the Brazilian market and adapted to many markets in the region. For its focus on developing a good user experience, both for the seller’s profile and for consumers. For its complete ecosystem that effectively solves the three pillars of e-commerce (sales, payment, and logistics).
Main image: clicOH founders Emiliano Segura, Agustín Novillo Saravia and Juan Altamirano. (Photo: clicOH)
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