Shipt

Shipt is an American delivery service owned by Target Corporation. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. In December 2017, it was announced that Target Corporation was acquiring Shipt for $550 million and that it would operate as an independent subsidiary following the acquisition. As of 2018, Shipt delivers groceries, home products, and select electronics. History Shipt was founded and initially funded by Bill Smith. Before launching Shipt, Smith had built other businesses including a cellphone business, a small loan business, and a prepaid Visa card business. The company soft-launched in November 2014 in Birmingham, Alabama with 1,000 pre-enrollment customers and officially launched in Birmingham in May 2015. By 2016, the service was available to 27 metro areas in 9 states. The company initially targeted regions that had no grocery delivery services before expanding into other regions. In July 2016, Shipt received a $20 million Series A investment led by Greycroft Partners, e.ventures and Harbert Growth Partners. The company said it planned to use the funding to develop partnerships and scale. Shipt raised an additional $40 million in Series B funding in June 2017. The round was led by Greycroft Partners with participation from previous investors. At the time of the investment the company operated in 47 markets across the U.S.