Better Know A Barcelona Startup: Hubbl

You’ve just ordered that awesome item you’ve been wanting for as long as you can remember. All you want is to get the package in the post, tear it open and start the fun times. You want nothing else, not even sleep. But then you get home from work and find that dreaded slip in the mailbox (or you don’t find it ever). Then that ecstasy rapidly dissipates. You commence the process of trying to retrieve your package from the courier services. You start to realize that the courier companies don’t really care for your personal preferences and the fact that you might not be able spend the whole day at home waiting for the package or have time to waste in exhausting lines. For impatient people such as myself, this is a no fly zone. You end up crying miserably in the corner. No fun.

Barcelona startup Hubbl is tackling this problem head on by providing safe and secure late night deliveries for all of the courier services in Barcelona. This means being able to receive your parcel when you are actually available! Founders Marius Kerbalek and Ingrid Fawcett want you to never miss another delivered package, to waste time at a collection office or to have to wait at home hoping that at some point during the courier’s unrealistic time frames, your package will arrive. “I’m from Germany and Ingrid is from Colombia so we would receive packages from our respective countries and always have problems picking them up. Whether waiting in long lines or having to stay at home for impracticable amounts of time, we saw a big problem ripe for fixing” says CEO Marius.

Person waiting for package: “Ok so you’re saying you will deliver the package from 9am-18h, so that’s all day you expect me to be at home right?”

Courier: “Yes. And we might actually not deliver it until the next day. So you should be home then too.”

Well, no more of that with Hubbl. You can go back to enjoying purchasing items online!

Like myself, Marius and Ingrid, out of their personal frustration with the existing package delivery business model, came up with this new and innovative logistical adaptation. They soon discovered that they weren’t the only ones who were dissatisfied with inefficient and antiquated delivery methods and were determined to provide a more customer-focused and convenient service.

Hubbl was launched in May of this year and offers users the ability to get packages from 18h to midnight 7 days a week. So how does it all work? All packages from courier companies are sent and accepted on behalf of customers at a secure Hubbl depot and delivered at the request of customers within 10 days. Also customers can track their package at all times to ensure they know of its location at any given time. “We are working on adding new GPS features so users will be able to track the package once it is out for delivery” adds Marius.

The team at Hubbl fully comprehends that until now, the customer service offered by courier services has bee considered as highly inefficient and ineffective, which is why customer service is at at the forefront of their business model. They want to ensure all customers are satisfied with their deliveries at every level of execution, from the drivers to the tracking process. To date, Hubbl has successfully and satisfactorily completed 200 deliveries in the Barcelona area. In fact, existing customers are so pleased with the service that most have used it more than once in just a few months during the soft launch.

Hubbl will be rolling out additional services in the next few months allowing users to schedule deliveries directly on native iOS and Android applications. Currently the startup is operating in Barcelona but their services will be expanding to Madrid later this year and to new Spanish cities in 2015.

“We are currently raising a financing round, looking for investors with experience in the sector who can add a lot of value and help us expand within Europe at a rapid pace” says Marius.

If you work late, travel frequently or simply are just busy with life (and want a safe, reliable way to get your package) then Hubbl is the choice for you. And if that wasn’t good enough, the first delivery is free by sending a tweet (@Hubblme).