lob Raises $50M to Revolutionize Direct Mail
Lob Secures $50 Million to Revolutionize Direct Mail
Lob is an innovative startup focused on streamlining and enhancing the process of sending physical mail for businesses, offering solutions for speed, cost-effectiveness, and personalization.
The company reports that its platform has facilitated mail delivery to approximately half of all households in the United States. Today marks a significant milestone with the announcement of a $50 million Series C funding round.
Programmatic Mail and Enterprise Focus
According to CEO Leore Avidar, Lob was co-founded with Harry Zhang nearly ten years ago with the goal of enabling “programmatic mail sending.”
While maintaining accessibility for smaller businesses, Lob has increasingly concentrated on serving enterprise-level clients. Its customer base currently exceeds 8,500 and includes prominent companies like Twitter, Expedia, and Booking.com.
Two Core Categories of Physical Mail
Avidar highlights two primary categories of physical mail that Lob supports for its clientele in the current digital landscape.
The first is mail mandated for “regulatory or compliance purposes” – legally required printed communications. The second is direct mail utilized for marketing, a channel Avidar notes is experiencing a resurgence in popularity.
The Rising Cost of Digital Marketing
“In the realm of marketing, companies are consistently seeking distinctive channels to capture customer attention and drive action,” Avidar explained.
“Currently, social media and Google AdWords are becoming increasingly expensive, and email marketing is susceptible to easy unsubscriptions. Direct mail has been largely overlooked, and its pricing isn’t subject to the same supply and demand fluctuations.”
Significant Time Savings and a Growing Network
Lob asserts it can accelerate direct mail campaign execution by 95%, reducing timelines from 90 days to under 24 hours.
The company achieves this through a nationwide network of printing and delivery partners. Furthermore, other businesses, such as PostPilot and Postalytics, are leveraging the Lob platform to build their own services.
Funding and Expansion Plans
With this latest round, Lob’s total funding now reaches $80 million. The Series C was spearheaded by Y Combinator Continuity Fund, which also led the startup’s prior funding round and previously supported Lob through the YC accelerator program.
Lob intends to triple the volume of physical mail processed through its platform this year. This funding will facilitate expansion of the Print Delivery Network and increase the company’s workforce to over 260 employees.
A Digital Transformation of Direct Mail
Ali Rowghani, a managing partner at YC and a member of Lob’s board, stated: “Lob is spearheading the digital transformation of direct mail, a universal business process that has remained largely untouched by software.”
“Lob’s platform delivers substantial value to major direct mail senders by reducing costs and improving deliverability, tracking, reporting, and return on investment. Even for sophisticated users, Lob’s API-driven approach surpasses traditional methods.”
