MBE Worldwide acquires GEL Proximity to strengthen its proximity logistics services
MBE Worldwide (“MBE”) is pleased to announce a majority share
acquisition of GEL Proximity, the first platform dedicated to proximity
logistics.
MBE Worldwide is a leading commerce enablement platform providing
e-commerce, fulfilment, shipping, marketing, and print solutions to SMBs and
consumers. In 2021, MBE served over 1,000,000 business customers worldwide
generating €1.01 bln (US$1.2 bln) of system wide sales, through its 2,900+
service centres in 53 countries, and €24 bln (US$28.5 bln) of gross merchandise
value traded through its PrestaShop e-commerce solutions.
GEL Proximity is an Italian tech platform entirely
dedicated to last mile logistics, equipped with a tech connector that currently
offers tens of thousands of pickup points allowing consumers to choose among
different proximity services. In 2020 GEL Proximity became a spin-off capital company
of the Politecnico di Milano, aiming to improve a sustainable growth of the
ecommerce channel, with particular attention to urban logistics, environmental
impacts and carbon reduction leveraging technology to improve the parcel
collecting system.
This acquisition represents a strategic step in MBE Worldwide’s
path to growth, developing and scaling up GEL Proximity platform and technology
across MBE global footprint will further strengthen its competitive position as
a global commerce and logistics platform for businesses.
“Our strategic goal consists in building an integrated
platform - both physical and digital - to support SMBs growth.“ - said Paolo
Fiorelli, Chairman and CEO - MBE Worldwide - “Combining a wide network of
Service Centres with one of the most successful ecommerce platforms in the market,
positions MBE as a unique player in the global landscape. This acquisition
represents a further strengthening of our commercial offer for business
customers enabling them to serve even better their final customers“ - added
Paolo Fiorelli.
“The journey we experienced at GEL Proximity is the
result of an entrepreneurial idea built with Damiano Frosi and with the support
of Politecnico di Milano, Polihub and the Digital Innovation Observatories
which had a fundamental role in our path to succeed, together with
Europromotion, a company controlled by Italia Distribuzioni, the largest
Italian company operating in proximity marketing” - said Lorenzo Maggioni, CEO
& Co-Founder - GEL Proximity - “The last mile represents today the most
delicate and expensive phase of the supply chain and our commitment with MBE
will be to facilitate access to Logistics Proximity services through innovative
and highly customisable technology” - added Lorenzo Maggioni.