Tag: Favor

Favor Appoints New Chief Financial Officer

September 23, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 1 Comment

Steven Pho, new Chief Financial Officer at NeighborFavor, parent company of Favor. Courtesy photo

NeighborFavor, the parent company of Favor, Wednesday announced it has hired Steven Pho as its new Chief Financial Officer.

Pho previously worked as senior vice president of corporate development at RetailMeNot. He was responsible for mergers and acquisition. At Favor, he will manage the company’s finance, legal, facilities and human resource teams.

Pho is the second senior executive to join Austin-based Favor from RetailMeNot. Earlier this month, Jag Bath became Favor’s Chief Executive Officer and President. He previously worked at RetailMeNot.

In the past few months, Favor has been bolstering its executive ranks as the company expands nationwide and internationally. In July, Michael Nels joined the company from SolarWinds as vice president of engineering.

All of the hiring and expansion follows a Series A round of financing the company closed worth $13 million in March. The funding came from Silverton Partners, S3 Ventures and Tim Draper. To date, the company has raised $16.9 million.

“I’m excited to be joining a team so intensely focused on delivering a world-class user experience and service to it’s customers and merchant partners,” Pho said in a news release. “Favor’s incredible growth has been remarkable to watch and I’m pleased to be joining the company at such a significant stage as it readies itself to launch in more cities.”

Favor, which launched in Austin in June of 2013, has spread to 11 other cities in the U.S. and Canada including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Nashville, Fort Worth, San Antonio, San Marcos and Toronto. Favor has more than 50 full time employees and more than 3,000 part-time runners in its markets. The company is a delivery service. Its runner pledge to deliver goods to consumers and businesses in less than an hour.

Favor Names New CEO

September 9, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

Jag Bath, CEO and President of Favor, courtesy photo

NeighborFavor, which operates Favor, Wednesday announced Jag Bath as its new Chief Executive Officer and President.

The Austin-based startup has been expanding quickly and recently entered the Canadian market. Bath has served on Favor’s board since May.

Bath previously worked as senior vice president of product at RetailMeNot, an Austin-based coupon retailing site. Before that he worked at luxury retailer Gilt Groupe and WeightWatchers.com.

“Having been a Favor customer from the very first day of its launch, I’ve been a fan for some time now,” Bath said in a news release. “Favor’s superior customer service and proprietary technology nicely lay the foundation for future growth. I’m thrilled and honored to be joining the team and excited at the prospect of putting the service into the hands of more consumers and businesses.”

Bath takes over from Ben Doherty, Favor’s co-founder, who is taking on the role of Chief Operating Officer.

Favor, which launched its app-based delivery service in Austin in June of 2013 has grown significantly in the past few years. So far this year, the company reports it has made 600,000 deliveries, which is already more than tripled its total deliveries for 2014. The startup pledges to get anything a customer wants delivered to their door within an hour. It operates in 12 cities in the U.S. and Canada including Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Nashville, Fort Worth, San Antonio, San Marcos and Toronto. Favor has 50 employees and more than 3,000 contractors.

To date, Favor has raised $16.9 million in funding.

Favor Launches Internationally with Service in Canada

August 25, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 1 Comment

Favour app, courtesy photo

Favor, an app-based delivery service, is going international with its first delivery service set to launch in Toronto, Canada on Thursday.

And the Austin-based startup will rename itself Favour in Canada to adapt to the local culture and customs. It offers delivery daily from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. in most of the Toronto metro area.

The company said it plans to deliver city favorites in Toronto from eateries like Khao San Road, Burrito Boyz and Pizzeria Libretto in less than one hour. For the launch, Favour is offering deliveries at $2 plus 5 percent of total delivered items for the first two months. Also, the company is offering first-time customers a free delivery with the promo code TORONTO.

Favor has come along way in a short time since Zac Maurais and Ben Doherty, its founders, launched the company in San Luis Obispo and then moved to Austin in 2013. It has more than 50 full time employees and more than 3,000 contractors who work as Favor runners donning the company’s trademark blue and white faux tuxedo shirts. Toronto is Favor’s 11th city. The company recently opened in Denver, Miami, Fort Worth and Nashville.

“Since launching in Austin two years ago, we’ve been able to fine-tune our delivery model, making it easy launch in new markets. We are continually looking to expand in the U.S., but saw Toronto as a massive international opportunity that we felt we could tackle,” Maurais, co-founder and CMO of Favor, said in a news release.

In March, the company landed $13 million in Series A venture capital from Silverton Partners, S3 Ventures and Tim Draper. To date, the company has raised $16.9 million in four rounds of funding.

Favor Adds New VP of Engineering and Plans Further Expansion

July 23, 2015 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 4 Comments

Michael Nels joins Favor as its new vice president of engineering.

Favor, a personal delivery service, landed in Austin in the summer of 2013 and has quickly grown.

Founders Zac Maurais and Ben Doherty moved here from California and launched a grocery and food delivery service. It quickly gained visibility for its runners who wore bright blue T-shirts with a faux tuxedo front.

The service, which started initially in central Austin, has spread throughout the city, state and beyond. And it’s no longer just delivering groceries or food. Its Favor runners fetch everything from bandages at Walgreens to dry cleaning.

In March, the company landed $13 million in Series A venture capital from Silverton Partners, S3 Ventures and Tim Draper. To date, the company has raised $16.9 million in four rounds of funding.

As part of the latest financing, Favor has done some hiring. It just announced this week that Michael Nels has joined the company to lead its engineering team. Nels comes from SolarWinds where he was vice president of software development.

He joined Favor to head up the engineering for a startup in a fast-paced industry, Nels said.

“We intend to expand globally,” Nels said.

Already, Favor is in Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Nashville, Washington, D.C. and Miami. The company has also grown from two employees in 2013 to 50 employees today. Their headquarters is an old house on West Sixth Street.

Favor faces a lot of competition from other companies chasing the same market like Instacart, Postmates, Burpy and others. Favor’s customer service sets it apart from the competition, Nels said. And the demand is high for its services, he said.

“We run errands for basically anything that is legal,” Nels said. “People either spend their time or their money running errands.”

And Favor has found, in this booming economy, people are short on time and are willing to pay Favor runners to act as their personal assistants. The company’s mobile app is available on both Android and IOS mobile phone platforms. Favor makes money by charging a $6 delivery charge plus a percentage of the total value of the goods delivered. Tip is extra.

By the end of the year, Favor expects to have 70 employees, Nels said. With the latest round of funding, the company is building out its engineering, product team as well as marketing, branding and sales, Nels said.

“We are in complete growth mode,” he said.

Austin-based Favor Lands $2 Million in Seed Stage Funding

September 4, 2014 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 1 Comment

Photo courtesy of Favor

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Favor, a food delivery service for central Austin, has received $2 million in seed funding.

Favor launched in Austin in June of 2013. It’s also available in Boston and San Luis Obispo.

Zac Maurais and Ben Doherty, graduates from California Polytechnic State University or Cal Poly, founded the company in the Boost.VC accelerator and launched a Favor pilot program in San Luis Obispo. They raised an initial investment round from Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

The service works through a free mobile App that lets customers order online and then one of Favor’s couriers picks up the goods and delivers it. The deliveries cost a $5 flat fee plus tip.

The drivers wear bright blue tuxedo shirts and drive cars outfitted with oversized blue bowties.

“The company has logged about $2.7 million in transactions since starting about three years ago and its number of deliveries in August were double that of March, executives said, though they didn’t provide revenue figures,” according to the Wall Street Journal. “More than 53,000 customers have signed up for the service, they said.”

“Silverton Partners led the seed investment, joined by Tim Draper and unnamed angel investors,” according to the journal. Read the rest of the story here.

Postmates Launches in Austin and Wants to be the Fedex of Home Delivery

June 5, 2014 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 0 Comments

By LAURA LOREK
Founder of Silicon Hills News

Bastian Lehmann, CEO of Postmates, which is launching in Austin, photo courtesy of Postmates

The self-proclaimed “Uber” of on demand delivery, Postmates, has launched in Austin.

The San Francisco-based company wants to be the “FedEx” of home delivery, said Bastian Lehmann, CEO of Postmates.

Postmates chose Austin for its expansion because of high demand and a hungry consumer base wanting more delivery options, Lehmann said.

‘Austin was requested heavily,” Lehmann said. “It’s a city that has a large tech community.”

And that fits with Postmates customer profile. It provides delivery from any restaurant or store including prescriptions, groceries, dry cleaning, electronics, cosmetics, etc. around the clock and in less than an hour.

On demand delivery service sounds a lot like Kozmo, a New York-based delivery service, which raised $250 million during the dot com boom to deliver everything from videos and groceries to coffee and ice cream to homes and offices. Kozmo went out of business in 2001.

But Postmates is different, Lehmann said.

“We don’t have any inventory or delivery vans,” he said.

The company is like Uber or Lyft and relies on individuals and their cars and bikes to pick up goods and delivery them to their customers. It has a network of 3,000 individual delivery couriers, called Postmates, in the six cities in which it operates. It’s the largest fleet behind Uber and Lyft, Lehmann said. The company currently makes more than 15,000 deliveries weekly nationwide.

Postmates has raised $23 million in venture capital and has 56 employees. It plans to hire between two to five full time employees in Austin.

Postmates officially launched today in Austin and it’s offering a promotion including free delivery through June 15th and free mini-pies from Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop on Thursday and Friday.

The Postmates “app, available for iOS and Android, allows users to browse an inventory of thousands of restaurants and stores in their city, add items instantly, watch their rated “Postmate” (either a driver or bike messenger) moving on the map, and track their order status in real time. Deliveries start at $5 and users pay for everything within the app — including tip — so you never have to run out and get cash,” according to the company.

Postmates currently operates in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles. The company has driven more than $12 million in revenue to local businesses and paid more than $5 million to its couriers.

Photo courtesy of Postmates

Austin’s delivery zone for Postmates includes downtown, South Congress, Zilker, Tarrytown, Rosedale, UT Campus, West Campus, part of Barton Hills, Rollingwood, West Lake Hills and most of South and East Austin. And it expects to expand even further shortly after its launch.

The on-demand delivery market is becoming a crowded one in Austin. Already, Burpy, a homegrown Longhorn startup company, offers grocery delivery. Favor, which relocated from California a few years ago, offers restaurant delivery. And Instacart, based in San Francisco, launched in Austin last month.

But the competition doesn’t worry Lehmann.

“Our competitors launched after us,” he said. “We are the leader in this space.”

And the idea is not worth anything, Lehmann said.

“The only thing that matters is the execution,” he said.

Want Something? Favor Delivers to Central Austin Residents

July 11, 2013 / LauraLorek@gmail.com / 3 Comments

By ANDREW MOORE
Reporter with Silicon Hills News

Ever want something from the store – a sandwich, milk, batteries – but didn’t have time to get it? If you’re in central Austin, you can now use Favor.
Favor is an app based delivery service that gets customers food, drinks, or whatever else they need delivered right to the user’s location. The service is active between the hours of 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Wednesday and available until 2 a.m.Thursday through Saturday. Favor has a $5.00 delivery fee plus $2.00 minimum tip on top of whatever you ordered. Customers can order virtually anything as long as they have the local store name and an item description.
Favor serves the central Austin area – as far south as Oltorf and as far north as 55th street. They currently have 12 runners and are still hiring.
Founded by high school friends Zac Maurais and Ben Doherty, Favor started out in San Luis Obispo, Calif. delivering burritos and beer. The startup went though the boost incubator in San Mateo, Calif. where it was eventually funded by venture capitalist Tim Draper. Favor moved its operation to Austin as of June 5 to access a larger customer base. It has seen 2000 downloads in its first month of operations.
Favor is currently looking for a Sencha touch developer to help build more features into their app.