BREAKING NEWS: Lehi, Utah-based Route has Closed a $40 Million C Round of Funding at a Valuation of $1.4 Billion

Since its founding in 2019, Route has developed what it claims is "... the leading post-purchase package tracking and protection solution ...."

Through the more than 13,000 brands it works with today, Route allows these firms to simply and inexpensively offer consumers "... shipment tracking, package protection and carbon offsetting ..." for any purchases made with its brand partners.

Lehi, Utah-based Route has closed a $40 million "C Round" of funding, a financing that elevates the company's valuation to $1.4 billion.

According to yesterday's news release, Route says that this financing "... was led by Hanaco VC with participation from JAWS Ventures, Madrona Ventures, and Granger ...," each of which Route describes on its website as being "long-time investors."

In case you don't remember, Route first achieved so-called Unicorn status nearly two-and-a-half-years ago in January 2022 when it announced it had raised $200 million in a "B Round" of funding at a $1.2 billion valuation, as noted in this article I wrote/published for Silicon Slopes at the time.

And even though the company's capitalization has not grown dramatically in the past 29 months — now at $1.4 billion (up from $1.2 billion almost 2.5 years ago), suggesting that Route avoided a dreaded "down round" of funding in the interim — the reality is that the company has seen definite progress since January 2022.

Specifically, in a June 2024 vs. January 2022 comparison, Route's results include

• $15 billion in insured eCommerce product purchases as of June 2024 (since the company's founding), a greater than 4X growth rate vs. the $3.7 billion of eCommerce product purchases insured by Route as of January 2022); additionally,
• Route has now tracked over 700 million packages (as of June 2024), a 4X growth rate vs. the 175 million packages tracked by the company as of January 2022.

And although not as impressive growth-wise (as noted above), nevertheless, Route

• Grew its 2023 revenue to over $100 million vs. 2021 revenue of $80 million, with
• Over three million active users using the Route platform today to track shipments an average of more than 10X/month, while
• Route now supports over 13,000 eCommerce brands, up from 10,000+ brands as of January 2022.

Some of Route's current brand name customers that caught my eye include

• Caraway,
• Juicy Couture,
• RHODE,
• TOM FORD,
• True Religion, and the
• Utah Jazz,

just to name a few.

Michael Yamartino, Route's CEO since June 2023, put a fine point on the value and benefits Route brings to both brands and consumers, when he said in yesterday's news release:

"Today's consumers demand 24/7 visibility into everything they buy, putting retailers under pressure to meet their expectations ... (and) to deliver the same quality service that billion-dollar retailers provide."

Bottom line, landing a $40MM funding round while maintaining valuation growth in this investing environment is no small feat.

So kudos to Team Route; may you find continued growth and success in the years ahead.

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