Farmers Branch startup Selery Fulfillment has raised $1 million from investors including Mark Cuban and Deep Space Ventures.
The seed funding will help the startup—which specializes in warehousing and fulfillment for e-commerce companies—more than double the footprint of its warehouse, expand its team, and launch marketing efforts. Deep Space Ventures, which previously invested in the company through Tech Wildcatters, led the round with a $510,000 investment. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban invested $300,000 in Selery, which began fulfillment services for the companies in his Shark Tank portfolio about a year ago. The rest of the round was provided by angel investors. Selery is led by CEO Justin White.
“Justin and his team have demonstrated an ability to grow the business at an exceptional pace,” said Stephen Hays, managing partner of Deep Space Ventures. “The fundamentals of the business (product, market, and team) are incredible and made the decision to lead Selery’s next round an easy one.”
Selery Fulfillment, founded in 2014, employs 15 people and generated $577,000 in 2016. Now, it expects to hire 30 more employees in the next 60 days, begin its first-ever marketing efforts, and move into a warehouse up to 100,000 square feet. White says with the additional growth, he expects Selery to generate $1.5 million to $2 million in revenue this year.
“We just grew a lot faster than we thought,” White said, adding that keeping up with the expansion has been challenging. “We’ve moved four times in 18 months.”
And after impressing Cuban’s Shark Tank companies with its service, Selery landed backing from the billionaire himself.
“They are well-positioned to be a leader in the logistics space,” Cuban said. “They not only have great technology and people, but I think hiring rather than contracting will give them a performance and cost advantage.”
Selery helps small and midsize e-commerce companies compete by providing quick turnaround for fulfillment and shipping. It also offers custom boxes and packaging for its customers. Before Selery, White and his team were selling excess inventory for its customers. But in 2014, one of its customers asked for help with fulfillment and storage.
Meanwhile, White says he also was looking for a fulfillment service for his company. Recognizing a need, he began to test the market desire for a company that would offer logistics services. Within two months, he had three customers. Thus Selery was born. In 2016, the company joined Tech Wildcatters and landed about $350,000 in seed money from the accelerator and investors tied to the group by the end. The company was one of the first to reach the level-five milestone of The Gauntlet program.
“This is a great example of what can be done in the Dallas startup ecosystem,” Hays said. “This is a Dallas startup that was helped along by a Dallas accelerator and has been funded by Dallas investors. It’s a great story for what we are all working together to build in this ecosystem.”
