The StartOps Team
TLDR:
Cloud3PL is a tech-enabled 3PL with a radically different operating model — including flat transparent pricing and the ability to use Amazon’s fulfillment network assets.
Basic info
Year founded: 2022
Team size: 3
HQ location: Los Angeles, CA
Regions served: USA
What's the backstory?
Founder Riley Arntz worked with >350 different brands in his career: First in PE for 15 years, then running an operations agency for 10 years.
He became good at figuring out where 3PLs were gouging him, and negotiating them down — be it on shipping mark-ups or fabricated labor hours.
But he hated doing this, and always wished there was a 3PL whose pricing was completely transparent.
After exiting his consultancy, he raised a round from VHS Ventures and others to start Cloud3PL.
They launched in January 2024 and have onboarded 20+ customers so far.
Who do they work with?
Their typical customer today is on Shopify, selling beverages, natural foods, and small/heavy products (like soda packs). But they can handle anything, from lipstick to furniture.
Their smallest customer does $2m/year in revenue, and their largest does north of $100M/year.
How does it work?
From a customer's perspective, Cloud3PL works like any other 3PL — brands tender their goods, and they will ensure it is unloaded and ready to ship to customers.
Their primary location is a 60k square foot, self-managed facility in the middle of the USA.
Under the hood, they have a very unique asset: enterprise agreements with Amazon that allow them to tender goods directly into their warehouse and deliver fulfillment network. This lets them pass Amazon's cheap scale pricing and speed directly to customers.
A typical setup is that they'll fulfill a brand's hero SKUs through Amazon, and the rest through their own location.
On the software side, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel with a 3PL portal, they just pipe all data back to Shopify. (They do however have a customer-facing demand and inventory planning module).
What makes it different?
Hybrid asset ownership model with Amazon — See "How does it work?" above
Transparent, flat-fee rate card — See "How does pricing work?" below
SaaS model / not an auditor — Most companies offering parcel data monetize through small parcel audit (which itself is often a loss leader for more-lucrative parcel spend management). Shiplab just does data.
Service orientation — Despite being tech-enabled, they understand running a 3PL means being responsive, and they will meet customers wherever they prefer: be it email, Slack, phone, text, or WhatsApp.
How does pricing work?
C3PL has uniquely transparent, flat pricing:
Flat monthly platform fee ($500 for SMBs, $1,000 for enterprise)
Per-shipment inbound processing fee for unloading, QC, and stocking
$1/order for pick, pack, and ship
Hourly rate for kitting + special projects w/ full time allocation transparency
