Cloud Printing and Shipping Service Lob (YC S13) Raises $2.4M Seed Round

http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/04/cloud-printing-shipping-service-lob-raises-2-4-million-seed-round/

by harryzhang • 13 years ago

45 18 13 years ago

techcrunch.com

aelaguiz• 13 years ago

Nice work Harry & Leore

generj2• 13 years ago

I love the concept of Lob, especially the CDN for mail.

I do wish the processing time was much lower. 2-3 days is quite a lot of time to wait on-top of the already slow USPS delivery.

"All printing is processed typically within 2-3 business days then mailed right after." https://www.lob.com/docs

Is there a reason the processing time is so long? I understand Lob relies on other parties to print and send the mail.

Ideally there would be same-day printing - I submit a job at 9am and it is printed and in USPS's system by 5pm. Combined with the CDN printing & mailing close to the destination, the mail should then arrive within 2 days of the job submission.

EDIT: And congrats to the Lob team! You guys are solving a real pain-point, and it won't be long until you've moved from $1 million in checks to $1 billion.

rebel3• 13 years ago

From my experience they have processed same-day or next day, although YMMV.

generj2• 13 years ago

Which is great, but I can't build an app on that.

What I'd really like is a delivery estimate API, so I could stagger job submission to ensure an entire batch ended up in my user's hands on the same day.

aefeuer• 13 years ago

Congrats guys! We've loved using Lob, and really exciting to see everything taking off!

j0ncc• 13 years ago

Huge fan of this company. Great job guys!

rebel3• 13 years ago

Congrats Leore and team! So far my experience with Lob has been fantastic. Can't wait to see what's next.

nemesisj• 13 years ago

I'm hopeful this means they can start offering their services in the UK! We'd love to integrate this in our app.

fudged71• 13 years ago

Congrats! Cloud printing is a huge market. We're doing something very similar with 3D printing.

waterside812• 13 years ago

For those who use this service, which part of it appeals the most? Is it removing the hassle of finding a printer? Is it the API part? Is it the shipping/logistics aspect?

I ask because Lob is a generalized version of what we (http://www.littleheroes.com) do every day.

I never considered our platform to be a service unto itself so I'm curious which aspects in particular resonate with people.

earless12• 13 years ago

We don't currently use Lob, but we use a service like it and for us it's the printing and mailing functionality that makes it appealing. Giving our customers the ability to send things like invoices directly to their customers from the application is a feature that gets lots of utilization.

aonic• 13 years ago

What service do you use? Does it also have an API?

peterjancelis• 13 years ago

What I like most is that they position themselves as a utility for one's app. I don't have to worry about them trying to impose their branding on my customers and it's one less thing to worry about, which is especially nice as it's a service that most companies did not automate before I imagine.

gfodor• 13 years ago

Congrats guys!

DenisM• 13 years ago

So I just googled "print photo api", and found a while bunch of similar things, like http://www.pwinty.com/

Is Lob different?

Cloud Printing and Shipping Service Lob (YC S13) Raises $2.4M Seed Round

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