Company Invests and Expands its Delivery and Logistics Solutions

Mensajeros Urbanos, a Colombian-based company that offers express delivery and last mile logistics services for multiple industries, has plans to invest US$30 million between Colombia and Mexico, with the latter receiving a larger share of the investment. 

Santiago Pineda, co-founder and CEO of Mensajeros Urbanos, expects to obtain a 700 percent growth in the Mexican market and aims for two million monthly deliveries versus the 200,000 current ones. Pineda stated that "the last mile plays a fundamental role in an environment where habits have radically changed," reported MBN. For the next 18 months, the company will invest US$30 million to develop further their technology, marketing, and logistics infrastructure. This comes after last year´s 81 percent global increase in e-shopping due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mensajeros Urbanos was founded in 2015 emerging B2B model for express delivery, with a Send Day or Next Day option, while also offering the possibility of storing e-commerce sales products and last mile delivery service. Its express delivery service has a 35-minute policy for the products to reach their destination and is charged by mileage, while their Send or Next Day services are charged by package weight. However, the company is focused on offering last mile logistics solutions for multiple industries, such as pharmaceuticals, restaurants, convenience stores, supermarkets, and e-commerce, by connecting a nearby courier that delivers in a bike, truck o van.

Existing technology include: automated creation and tracking of deliveries through API integration, optimization of delivery time by the indication of the shortest route to couriers, real-time tracking of the delivery location, and the monitoring of metrics to improve operational processes.

Mensajeros Urbanos is also looking to enlarge their logistics infrastructure by expanding warehouses, cross-dock points, and dark stores in high volume areas in Mexico City and Bogota, aimed to store goods and allow deliveries within minutes. Mensajeros Urbanos already has three storage centers in Mexico but expects this number to grow to 30.

"We divide the fulfillment issue into two: high volume fulfillment, which are warehouses of 5,000 or 10,000 square meters where you store for prolonged periods of high inventory volume [...] in addition to that, we have these micro fulfillment spaces that are focused on high turnover products that need to be delivered in a matter of minutes to convenience stores, pharmacies, and other types of e-commerce", according to the company.

As part of its plan to expand through Latin America, and having Mexico with approximately 10,000 drivers already registered on their platform, Mensajeros Urbanos plans to expand to Puebla, Queretaro, Leon, Toluca, Culiacan, Hermosillo, Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, and Merida.

The company has the opportunity to become a leader in the last-mile service category in Mexico and Latin America. Together with eBay’s ex-director Venkatesh Ramaswamy on their team, technological advances are expected to grow with the aid of Artificial Intelligence, having more certainty around what vehicles and logistic resources are ideal to achieve faster and more efficient operations. Fernanda Chinchilla, who has been awarded the Best Retail Award Latam, is also joining the team as the vice-president of the marketing department.