Ron Wiener

Just two months after its launch, Seattle startup EquaShip has raised an additional $600,000 in cash. Led by entrepreneur Ron Wiener, EquaShip is taking on established shippers such as FedEx, DHL and UPS.

Wiener stepped down from heavily-funded Earth Class Mail in 2009, a Seattle area company that specializes in the delivery of postal mail electronically.

The new financing brings total cash raised to $1.5 million, with the first round of capital used to build out the company’s customer service and IT operations.

Wiener said the new money would be used for software development and expansion of EquaShip’s package drop-off locations. EquaShip is partnering with retailers and mail and parcel centers for the drop-off locations, with a few hundred in the network right now. Wiener tells GeekWire that they are adding one or two new locations each day, with plans to add larger retailers into the network in the coming months.

It also plans to expand internationally next year.

Targeting small and medium-sized businesses, EquaShip said that its prices are typically 28 percent to 79 percent below residential ground rates as UPS and FedEx. Recent price increases at the big shippers as well as the cost-cutting measures at the U.S. Postal Service are helping EquaShip’s business grow.

Wiener noted that it is much more profitable for the U.S. Postal Service to take packages from EquaShip, then it is “to take them from beginning to end.”

“They like it when consolidators bring packages right to their last node,” said Wiener, adding that EquaShip is the first consolidator targeting small and medium-sized businesses.

The company was previously backed by Newell Rubbermaid and Seattle and San Francisco angel investors. Wiener said that angels from Angel List and previous backers of Earth Class Mail, as well as members of the Keiretsu Forum participated in the most recent round.

“It is tough launching in Q4, but we knew that,” said Wiener. “We are not terribly overwhelmed, which we feared, but we expect a much bigger January than December.”

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