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By Nikki Cabus

An entrepreneurs journey; ShipMonk Founder names new CEO

Read Time 4 Minutes

Just last week, the Founder of ShipMonk, Jan Bednar, announced the company will have a new CEO – Josh McCarter.

 

Here’s a little about Jan Bednar’s entrepreneurial journey. 

 

At only 17 years old, Jan Bednar moved to the United States from the Czech Republic to attend Florida Atlantic University and pursue his dream of being an entrepreneur. While at university, his friends back home would ask Jan to purchase American products that were either too expensive or not available in the Czech Republic and ship it to them. Many merchants in the United States also refused to ship to the Czech Republic or their payment method was unaccepted. They would order online, have the products shipped to Jan and then Jan would turn around and ship to them. Jan began to realize the real demand for American products and decided to start a business doing the same thing he already was for family and friends back home.

In 2014 while studying in FAU’s College of Business, Jan entered the FAU Business Plan Competition (now FAU Business Pitch) with his new business idea BedaBox, a DHL partner offering heavily discounted shipping between Europe and the USA that forwards packages to international clients. Out of 250 participants and multiple rounds of judging, BedaBox won!

The pitch competition is hosted by FAU’s Adams Center for Entrepreneurship and encourages FAU students, faculty, staff and recent graduates to pitch their game-changing idea for a chance to fund their new ventures. Along with prize money, teams compete for legal and business services, preferred access into the FAU Tech Runway Venture Program and the opportunity to present their business pitch to local angel, venture capital groups and more.

The following month, Jan was nominated to represent FAU in the state-wide collegiate Business Plan Competition with the Florida Venture Forum. Jan won first place beating other students and business plans from universities from all around Florida.

Winning the competitions, earned Jan over $30k and a spot in the FAU Tech Runway®, a South Florida public-private partnership that serves as a hub to accelerate technology development and incubate startup companies. Tech Runway’s companies can access mentoring, introductions to early-stage capital, grants and seed funding. In addition, they are provided with the tools to become successful entrepreneurs, including a rigorous boot camp, access to business and technology events, and connections to a thriving regional innovation network. BedaBox was included in Venture Class 1 at Tech Runway.

Jan graduated from the College of Business with a major in Management Information Systems in 2014 and in 2016 he transformed BedaBox into ShipMonk. Jan realized that there was a huge opportunity for technology-driven fulfillment services for the small and medium-sized ecommerce companies. Fulfillment takes a lot of time and takes companies away from focusing on growing their business. There were no competitors in the space with user-friendly technology that would support a great customer experience. That’s how the ShipMonk we know now was born.

According to Jan in an FAU interview, he founded ShipMonk to “change the way eCommerce companies manage their supply chain and ship orders to their customers through a game-changing supply chain software, automation and exceptional fulfillment service. ShipMonk is a technology company that solves ecommerce companies’ biggest problem — fulfillment.”

In late 2015, ShipMonk moved to a 23,000 square foot facility in Pompano Beach. They quickly outgrew this space. By late 2016, ShipMonk moved to a massive 90,000 square foot facility in Deerfield Beach. Additionally, Jan knew that ShipMonk could best serve its customers by operating facilities on both coasts and so the California location was opened.

Now, their South Florida headquarters in Fort Lauderdale is 220k square feet and the entire office is built out of storage containers. It has a full bar, gym, trampoline, game room and is pet friendly. ShipMonk now spans across almost twenty facilities across the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and the Czech Republic. The company’s total funding now exceeds $365 million. They are continuing to expand their footprint, roll out new technology and take over the industry.

In a recent social media post, Jan announced that after an intense 18-month search, he will be stepping down from CEO and named Josh McCarter as his replacement.

“When I started ShipMonk from my apartment in 2016, I never imagined we would come this far. We started from zero, without any venture funding, to a global presence with over 18 warehouses worldwide spanning some 4,000,000 square feet. Our team has grown to over 2,000 exceptional employees. Together, we have shipped over 100 million orders to customers worldwide, helping thousands of businesses achieve their growth goals. Despite the skeptics, we’ve outperformed traditional and venture-backed fulfillment companies, maintaining profitability while scaling to hundreds of millions of revenue per year,” wrote Jan.

“Most importantly, I was able to share this journey with people I love, admire and deeply care about. Nothing makes me happier and more fulfilled (no pun intended) than remembering the special moments we’ve all shared on this journey.”

To learn more about ShipMonk, visit www.shipmonk.com

 

By Nikki Cabus

Ft. Lauderdale-based ShipMonk is growing again; 11th State-of-the-Art Fulfillment Center

Read Time 2 Minutes

Ft. Lauderdale-based commerce fulfillment solutions company, ShipMonk, is expanding again.

The first-in-class ecommerce 3PL (3rd party logistics) company, recently announced another expansion with their 11th state-of-the-art fulfillment center in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

Dallas-Fort Worth marks the 11th location in ShipMonk’s growing global network of 1st party fulfillment centers. This new facility is strategically positioned to maximize fast, easy, and affordable shipping. The fulfillment center is located within 1-day ground shipping from 5 of the 15 most highly-populated cities in the US. Further, the Dallas-Fort Worth facility is opening near the Port of Houston and within range of Texas’s other seaports, each of which creates new import options for ShipMonk’s new and existing ecommerce clients.

Jan Bednar, ShipMonk founder and CEO, notes, “Expanding our global operation creates greater opportunities for ecommerce business owners to lower shipping costs and shorten delivery times.”

He continued, “By distributing inventory across multiple facilities and leveraging ShipMonk’s Virtual Carrier Network, our clients are in the best possible situation to save on costs and dominate shipping timeframes.”

The fully-integrated fulfillment center will cover over 250K square feet of temperature-controlled storage and 39 loading docks.

Beyond the core benefits of our Dallas-Fort Worth expansion, clients will also enjoy:

  • Central Location for Reduced Transit Time
    The Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas fulfillment center maximizes shipping reach; 48 of the 50 most populated cities in the US are within 3-day ground shipping from this new facility. Dallas-Fort Worth puts inventory in incredibly close proximity to the southern US and within easy reach of the entire country.
  • Shipping Zone Savings
    With its centralized location, ShipMonk’s Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas fulfillment center will have lower average shipping zones than other coastally located facilities. Lower shipping zones translate to lower shipping costs on ecommerce orders. Note that 50% of the US population resides in Zone 5 or lower from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
  • Distributed Ecommerce Inventory
    Adding Dallas-Fort Worth to ShipMonk’s fulfillment center footprint of 11 tech-enabled locations provides ShipMonk clients with another state-of-the-art, 1st party facility for their inventory. By strategically placing products closer to customers, shipping is faster and costs are lower.

ShipMonk proudly employs 2,000+ team members across 11 state-of-the-art facilities in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. They are America’s fastest-growing third-party logistics provider (3PL) for DTC, B2B, and retail fulfillment across all verticals. ShipMonk’s enterprise-level services stand out amongst 3PLs thanks to seamless integrations, superior shipping, and powerful order, inventory, and warehouse management technology.

By Nikki Cabus

394 Florida companies make the 2022 Inc. 5000 list; South Florida strong with 171

Read Time 3 Minutes

The popular Inc. 5000 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies across the United States is out for 2022 — and the state of Florida is looking pretty strong.

From healthcare to education to marketing and construction, Florida’s top companies represented a multitude of industries. Over a 3-year span from 2018 – 2021, Florida companies had a 239% median growth, $18.8 billion in total revenue, and 36, 540 jobs added.

Two Florida companies made the overall Top 10 List: HighKey at #5 and Homethreads at #8. HighKey is a food & beverage company based in Orlando with 41,585% growth and Homethreads is a retail company based in Boca Raton with 25,851% growth.

This year, Inc. 5000 also listed the Top 10 diverse leaders of 2022 and Florida had two honorable mentions: HighKey once again and Zimba & PLUS ULTRA, a consumer products company based out of Boca Raton. Zimba & PLUS ULTRA was also listed in the Top Women Leaders category.

Through a 3-year period of uncertainty and change, these companies have shown a resiliency and level of innovation like no other. Of the 394 Florida-based companies, 61 were newly founded and an impressive 85 were repeat honorees.

Below are the Top 10 Florida-based companies, South Florida-based companies, and how they compare on a national level.

 

TOP 10 Fastest Growing Companies in FLORIDA:

  • #5 – HighKey (Orlando) – Food & Beverage – 41,585% growth
  • #8 – Homethreads (Boca Raton) – Retail – 25,851% growth
  • #35 – Zimba & PLUS ULTRA (Boca Raton) – Consumer Products – 9,349% growth
  • #47 – The Snow Agency (Miami) – Advertising & Marketing – 6,953% growth
  • #48 – OneRail (Orlando) – Software – 6,879% growth
  • #50 – KITRUM (Clearwater) – IT Services – 6,799% growth
  • #58 – AMA Consulting Group (Winter Park) – Government & Services – 6,218% growth
  • #59 – 365 LOGISTICS (Ft. Lauderdale) – Logistics & Transportation – 6,093% growth
  • #67 – Poseidon Management of Florida Get Staffed Up (Miami) – Human Resources – 5,807% growth
  • #68 – Octillion (Boynton Beach) – Media – 5,793% growth

 

Top 10 Fastest Growing Companies in SOUTH FLORIDA (Miami Metro Region):

  • #8 – Homethreads (Boca Raton) – Retail – 25,851% growth
  • #35 – Zimba & PLUS ULTRA (Boca Raton) – Consumer Products – 9,349% growth
  • #47 – The Snow Agency (Miami) – Advertising & Marketing – 6,953% growth
  • #59 – 365 LOGISTICS (Ft. Lauderdale) – Logistics & Transportation – 6,093% growth
  • #67 – Poseidon Management of Florida Get Staffed Up (Miami) – Human Resources – 5,807% growth
  • #68 – Octillion (Boynton Beach) – Media – 5,793% growth
  • #99 – HCM Unlocked (Boca Raton) – Human Resources – 4,385% growth
  • #100 – Performance Golf (Ft. Lauderdale) – Sports -4,323% growth
  • #122 – Stylecraft (Boca Raton) – Manufacturing – 3,733% growth
  • #139 – Air Pros (Hollywood) – Consumer Services – 3,392% growth

 

Interesting Stats:

  • Of the overall 394 Florida-based companies, almost 45% were from South Florida with 171 represented.
  • Of the Top 10 Florida-based companies, 60% were based in South Florida.
  • Of the Top 10 South Florida based companies, 20% were from Miami-Dade county, 30% from Broward county, and 50% from Palm Beach county.

 

Here’s a shoutout to some of our South Florida Tech Hub members who made the 2022 list:

  • #618 – ShipMonk (Ft. Lauderdale) – Logistics & Transportation – 1,025% growth (5 year repeat)
  • #697 – Sloane Staffing (Palm Beach Gardens) – Business Products & Services – 897% growth
  • #886 – Salesmsg (Delray Beach) – Software – 718% growth
  • #998 – PlanHub (West Palm Beach) – Construction – 654% growth (2 year repeat)
  • #1306 – Social Mobile (Hollywood) – Business Products & Services – 498% growth
  • #1740 – CloudHesive (Ft. Lauderdale) – Business Products & Services – 353% growth (4 year repeat)
  • #2016 – Gravity IT Resources (Ft. Lauderdale) – Human Resources – 299% growth (4 year repeat)
  • #2345 – PeakActivity (Boynton Beach) – Business Products & Services – 250% growth (3 year repeat)
  • #2359 – TechStrong Group (Boca Raton) – Media – 248% growth (3 year repeat)
  • #2990 – Dedicated IT (Lake Park) – IT Services – 181% growth (3 year repeat)
  • #3301 – The SilverLogic (Boca Raton) – Software – 180% growth (3 year repeat)
  • #3917 – Digital Resource (West Palm Beach) – Advertising & Marketing – 125% growth (5 year repeat)
  • #4435 – ModMed (Boca Raton) – IT Services – 100% growth (7 year repeat honoree!!)

 

To learn more about the 2022 Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies, visit https://www.inc.com/inc5000/2022

By Nancy Dahlberg

Member Spotlight | ShipMonk

Read Time 3 Minutes

Business: ShipMonk provides stress-free packing and shipping services for small and mid-sized e-commerce companies.

HQ: Fort Lauderdale. Fulfillment facilities in California and Pennsylvania.

Founder and CEO: Jan Bednar

Year founded: 2014 at FAU Tech Runway

No. of employees: More than 400; about 250 in South Florida

Website: www.shipmonk.com

 

“It’s been a little crazy but good — we’re moving in the right direction,” said Jan Bednar, in describing his startup’s busy summer.

His logistics-tech company, ShipMonk, provides “stress-free” packing and shipping for small and mid-sized e-commerce companies. Its multichannel order fulfillment services enable startups and SMBs to focus on building their brand and achieving next-level growth.  In July, ShipMonk moved into a 220,000-square-foot headquarters and logistics facility in Fort Lauderdale, three times the size of its former Deerfield Beach facility.

ShipMonk plans to open a new facility in California early next year, having already outgrown its 95,000-square foot facility. “We are out of space there, too,” Bednar said in a recent interview with Refresh Miami.

In addition, ShipMonk opened a fulfillment facility in Pennsylvania in June, it’s third in the U.S.A. “We might open one in the Midwest but for right now we’re good,” Bednar said.

More than 400 people now work at ShipMonk, Bednar said, including about 250 in South Florida.

Expect many more jobs: Bednar has committed to add another 400 jobs in South Florida over the next five years.

Revenues have followed a similar projectory. The company once again landed on the INC 5000 this year, at No. 154, with 2,470% three-year growth and $28.4 million in 2018 revenues. That was up from about $10.6 million in revenues in 2017 and $3.9 million in 2016.

This year ShipMonk is on track to more than double its revenues again.

To fully appreciate this growth, remember ShipMonk’s first office was a corner of FAU TechRunway’s accelerator space in Boca Raton, stacked high with boxes, just five years ago when he was basically a company of one. Bednar, an FAU student from the Czech Republic in his early 20s, started the first iteration of the company, then called BedaBox, in 2014 while part of TechRunway’s first accelerator class. His concept won first place in FAU’s business plan contest and tops in the Florida Venture Forum’s Collegiate Competition at the time. Fast forward to 2018, and Bednar was named to the national Forbes 30 Under 30.  

ShipMonk was a bootstrapped company for the first four years and always profitable. Last November, ShipMonk raised $10 million in a Series A round led by SJF Ventures in North Carolina, with participation from Virginia-based Grotech Ventures, Maine-based Supply Chain Ventures, and a group of angel investors who specialize in supply chain investments. Bednar gave up just 15% of the company, the Sun Sentinel reported at the time, and he planned to use the funding for hiring and automation.

Bednar wasted no time putting the venture money to work.

In addition to all the facility growth and hiring – the employee count has nearly doubled since last fall – ShipMonk has been heavily investing in automation.

ShipMonk team in Fort Lauderdale.

“We have a lot of exciting things going on. We have a $2 million automation project we will be implementing in our Florida facility early next year. We’re trying to increase our through put capacity and automate a lot more things as well to be more competitive in the market,” Bednar said.

Robots? Check. “In October, we will be deploying the robots.”

Global expansion is in the works, too. Next year, ShipMonk hopes to open its first Europe locations. “We are still researching locations but looking at Western Europe, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, one of those three most likely,” he said.

ShipMonk’s tech team of about 30 people is currently based in the Czech Republic. The company has some tech positions at each of its locations, but in South Florida a lot of ShipMonk’s jobs are in operations, supply chain management, industrial engineering, account management and sales, and customer support (ShipMonk calls its customer support managers Happiness Engineers). “HR, finance and marketing grows as the business grows,” Bednar said. Find the current job openings here.

 

An entrepreneurs journey; ShipMonk Founder names new CEO
Ft. Lauderdale-based ShipMonk is growing again; 11th State-of-the-Art Fulfillment Center
394 Florida companies make the 2022 Inc. 5000 list; South Florida strong with 171
Member Spotlight | ShipMonk