The problem
Iran’s traditional postal service has no real express option, so getting a parcel across Tehran fast meant relying on informal motorbike couriers with unpredictable pricing and availability. People and enterprises had no app-bookable, accountable way to move goods across town.
How it works
Founded in September 2016 by Mehdi Nayebi and Mehrshad Pezeshk — who moved from Europe to Tehran to start it — AloPeyk is an on-demand delivery company booked through a mobile app. CEO Nayebi, formerly with Deutsche Bank and online ticketing agency KweekWeek, returned to Iran in 2016 convinced app-booked motorbike delivery could be the next big ticket. Back-end algorithms and routing software cut driver idle time so couriers complete more deliveries at lower cost to the end customer. By April 2017 the service ran some 5,000 drivers delivering more than 10,000 packages a day, with drivers able to earn up to 2 million rials a day.
Pain points
No express post, unreliable informal couriers, congested intra-city transport, and online retailers without plug-in same-day delivery.
Business model
Per-delivery fees charged to consumers and businesses, with courier economics driven by dispatch efficiency, extended into on-demand grocery retail through the AloMarket marketplace.
Challenges
Apple pulled the app from its App Store in 2017 in compliance with US sanctions; taxi-hailing leader Snapp was rumoured to be entering motorbike delivery; and the company must sustain driver earnings and recruit tens of thousands of couriers while expanding city by city.
Funding
The company received investments in 2019 from Turquoise Partners and others to fund expansion; no round amounts were disclosed in the inspected sources.
Latest — May 2021
In May 2021 Persian tech press reported AloPeyk’s claim of 75 million packages shipped since its founding with 15,000 couriers active on the platform each day — up from the 50,000 motorcycle couriers and 10,000 van drivers the Financial Times had reported hired since founding in 2018.