BufferBox

BufferBox Inc. was a Canadian startup from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada that leveraged parcel kiosks to provide consumers the convenience of picking up their online purchases 24/7.[1] Founded by Jay Shah, Aditya Bali and Mike McCauley, BufferBox's mission was to make missed delivery notices a thing of the past.[1] When consumers signed up for the service, they received a unique 'BufferBox address' to use as their shipping address when shopping online. Members then received an email notification with a unique unlock code as soon as their package was delivered which enabled them to pick up their package from their local BufferBox.[2]

BufferBox
Founded2011
HeadquartersKitchener—Waterloo, Ontario
Area served
Greater Toronto Area, Kitchener-Waterloo, San Francisco
OwnerAlphabet Inc.
ParentGoogle
WebsiteBufferBox.com
A BufferBox at Finch Bus Terminal.

History

One year after its founding BufferBox was awarded the 2012 Velocity Venture Fund, and went through the Y Combinator program in Silicon Valley.[3] After conducting a pilot trial at the University of Waterloo, the service expanded to various locations in the Greater Toronto Area. A deal was announced in early November 2012 to install kiosks at GO Transit stations. It was also conducting testing phase of its technology with Walmart Canada's e-commerce unit.[4]

On November 30, 2012, BufferBox was acquired by Google for a rumored $25 million.[5][6] The acquisition was seen as a step to compete with Amazon's Locker service.[6] Google Waterloo engineering director Steve Woods said the BufferBox team — which consisted of seven employees beyond its trio of founders — would be kept intact, with Google providing additional resources to help the company grow. Google advised at the time of the acquisition, that they planned on keeping the BufferBox brand active for the foreseeable future.[7] However, on February 21, 2014, Google announced that it was closing down BufferBox. The last day for warehouses accepting packages was set to March 31, 2014.[8]

References
  1. "BufferBox". Archived from the original on 2012-11-18. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  2. "Google's BufferBox Expands its Shipping Kiosk Service for Parcel Pickups to San Francisco".
  3. Asaria, Ali. "Bufferbox Acquired". StartupNorth. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
  4. "Google buys Waterloo startup BufferBox". The Globe and Mail. 2012-11-30. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  5. Hartley, Matt (30 November 2012). "Google snaps up Waterloo startup BufferBox". Financial Post. Toronto. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  6. "Google Acquires Waterloo-Based E-Commerce Startup, Amazon Locker Competitor and YC Graduate BufferBox".
  7. Hartley, Matt (30 November 2012). "Google snaps up Waterloo startup BufferBox | Financial Post". Financial Post.
  8. "BufferBox blog: Important BufferBox Update". Archived from the original on 2014-05-02. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
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