Barnacle and Rough Draft Team Up
Introducing Rough Draft’s latest investment
The Rough Draft crew is pleased to announce its latest investment in MIT-founded and San Francisco-based peer-to-peer shipping company, Barnacle.
A team of six, Barnacle is a community that ships your most treasured possessions through a trusted network of drivers already en route. The startup boasts 10,000 users, primarily in five major cities along the West Coast and is powered by a powerful logistics backend and more than 500 verified drivers who ship all along the West Coast, currently anywhere from Seattle down through San Diego and to Las Vegas.
As an avid road tripper with more than 25,000 miles under his belt this past two years, CEO Gerrit Hall says he’s amazed at the unused capacity in mostly empty passenger vehicles. “Our best drivers are frequent road warriors who travel often for work and family reasons and are looking to offset their gas costs,” he says. With Barnacle, drivers can do just that while helping shippers get over the worst part of shipping: Packing up those items and waiting in line at the Post Office.
Hall says that Barnacle is best for bulky or fragile items, because they are often uneconomical to mail or a hassle to wrap in packaging. Barnacle, though, gives these odd items a safe ride in a Barnacle driver’s passenger vehicle. The Barnacle team has shipped everything from mascot outfits to stacks of yummy pies — cornering the market of strangely-shaped or fragile items that need to travel long distances.
Barnacle pricing is a flat $55 along I-5, Hall says, and varies within the marketplace elsewhere, but averages around $150 per shipment. The company automatically insures packages up to $500 in value and offers higher tiers of coverage for premium clients.
While Barnacle is powering shipments for individual shippers, it has also partnered with early adopters with frequent shipping needs, ranging from large agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi to small startups like Mumford Brewing. The startup is also prototyping best-in-class rapid pickup and deployment to better fulfill the on-demand needs of today’s power shippers in select geographies.
“Nowadays, when you want something moved, speed matters. Our drivers are dispatched in realtime and we’re investing to shave every possible second off your wait time,” Hall says.
At Rough Draft Ventures, we’re excited to invite Barnacle into our portfolio of amazing student startups. The team has been working very hard this past year to gain traction and prove out the concept that it’s solving a real need in the marketplace with its peer-to-peer long distance shipping solution. Not only has Barnacle shown promise on that front, but it also took home first place at the SXSW MBA Startup Competition this year and were finalists at the MIT $100K Competition, racking up a few validation points from external judges.
As quick shipping continues to be an important driver for consumer behavior and marketplaces and logistics companies continue to develop solutions for consumer demands on shipping improvements, we at Rough Draft believe that Barnacle is positioned to play in the sandbox, especially from a long-distance, multi-city perspective. We’re looking forward to supporting the team in its entrepreneurial journey! Welcome to the family, team!
