Home Run for Shopbox
Shopbox had its official launch on 1 September, thanks to investment from a YABA member who, together with a group of fellow investors, has ploughed over £300,000 into the company Shopbox Systems Ltd
The Shopbox is a refrigerated and secure drop box invented by Leeds-based Stuart Archbold to provide a solution to the problem of unattended and failed home deliveries. “Running a logistics company, I have experienced first hand the expense that missed deliveries has on a business,” he says. “Having a Shopbox means never having to wait in for a delivery again. It saves both the customer and the delivery company time and money and reduces carbon emissions by cutting the number of journeys a delivery van might have to make.”
Stuart, together with Chief Executive Andy Leslie, demonstrated the product on BBC2’s Dragons’ Den in July. “The TV appearance generated a lot of positive publicity,” says Andy. “However, this was just one of the funding routes we were pursuing in order to be in a position to launch our product.”
Shopbox Systems Ltd also presented at YABA’s investment forum in March this year. “The interest we received from individual angel members after the forum helped encourage other investors to commit to us,” explains Andy. “This meant that we could start manufacturing.” The YABA links continue as the Shopbox casing is being manufactured at Crompton Mouldings in Huddersfield, who themselves presented at the May investment forum.
Advising on the fundraising was Jim Whittaker of White Acres Corporate Advisory who has since joined the company as a non-executive director. “Shopbox has the potential to fundamentally change the way we shop for groceries in the UK and how supermarkets get groceries to us,” he says. “Supermarkets should not be visiting the same street three or four times in one day as it’s an immense waste of time and fuel. Shopbox can at last bring logistical efficiencies into online delivery for retailers, as well as huge convenience for customers.”
