On-demand delivery startup Picup starts focusing on business deliveries

On-demand delivery service Picup has launched a new offering that enables businesses to collect and deliver documents and parcels in under 90 minutes — a fraction of the time it takes for traditional courier service.

The WeChat Africa-backed startup stresses that if the Picup Business delivery isn’t completed within 90 minutes the full fare is credited to the client.

Available on your smartphone via WeChat and the web, Picup launched in May this year. The delivery startup is inspired by an Uber-like business model with a distributed team of drivers who choose to accept pick-up or delivery requests.

The revenue split is 70% for the driver and 30% for Picup. The company notes that there are around 200 drivers located in and around Cape Town.

Read more: Here’s all you need to know about WeChat’s new on-demand courier startup Picup

Antonio Bruni, the founder and CEO of Picup, explains the reasoning behind this new focus:

It didn’t take long for us to realise that businesses formed a core part of our target market and we needed a solution that allowed them to place a Picup from their PC. While today’s consumer is constantly on the go and a mobile offering on WeChat is the perfect solution, the average business person still does most of their work from a desktop computer.

Read more: WeChat set to launch on-demand courier service in SA

Head of WeChat for Africa Brett Loubser says: “We’re so pleased to be associated with a start up like Picup, which is disrupting the logistics market in Cape Town and will soon take on other cities in South Africa.”

Johannesburg can expect to start seeing blue Picup bicycles, scooters, and cars in the next few months.