Velove granted € 30 000 by Swedish state funding scheme "Innovative start-ups"

Coinciding with the launch of DHL Express tests and a lot of media attention, Velove was granted € 30 000 by Swedish state funding scheme “Innovative start-ups“. The competition was tough, with only 10-15 % of applicants being granted funding.

The funding will be used for standardising the Velove City Container. Application summary:

“City logistics is an increasing challenge for logistics operators in bigger cities, where increased congestion and motor vehicle regulations result in decreased productivity. Simultaneously, delivery demand is skyrocketing due to e-commerce and ultra fast deliveries. One partial solution is to use smaller vehicle for last mile delivery and first mile pickup for small goods. Transferring goods from a large vehicle to a smaller, or via a terminal, is however costly. Manual handling of parcels is time consuming and introduces an increased risk of damaged/lost goods. By using the same principle as both sea and air freight introduced decades ago to increase efficiency, containerisation, efficiency can be improved in city logistics. A container that is loaded with parcels in an external terminal can quickly and safely be transferred from a big vehicle to a smaller in a city centre, or via a terminal. Velove has developed a city container solution for its own cargo cycle, the Armadillo, with DHL as first customer. With this project, Velove aims to take a step towards making the container solution an industry standard. “

“We see great potential in the City Container for city logistics, says Velove CEO Johan Erlandsson. We know small vehicles are better suited to do small deliveries in congested city centers. But big vehicles are needed to get the goods into the city center in an efficient way. So the goods need to be moved from big vehicle to small, efficiently and safely. You can perhaps compare with sea containers. Who would today say it is a good idea to handle goods manually when loading or unloading a vessle? We are happy Vinnova (Swedish innovation institution) also see the potential of the City Container!”