Cubyn
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Cubyn was a Paris-based logistics and fulfillment startup founded in 2014 by Adrien Fernandez Baca, serving e-commerce merchants and marketplaces across Europe. It offered on-demand logistics and full fulfillment: merchants integrated their sales channels (eBay, Shopify, Amazon) in one click and sent inventory to Cubyn's warehouses; the company's proprietary technology and algorithms then picked the best carrier and timing for each parcel, picking, packing, and shipping it - claiming logistics costs 30 to 50 percent below industry rates, with pickup scheduled within two hours for its on-demand service. It partnered with PriceMinister (Rakuten) to power delivery for 5,000 merchants, grew shipments 300 percent year-on-year between 2015 and 2016, and expanded to a 25,000-square-meter warehouse in Madrid as its European hub. Backed by DN Capital, Partech Ventures, 360 Capital Partners, BNP Paribas Development, Bpifrance, and First Bridge, it raised $7 million in Series A (2017), €12 million Series B (2019, DN Capital-led), $13.5 million in 2019, and venture debt from Harbert European Growth Capital (2020); a 2024 review recorded 79 employees and €23.2 million in 2023 revenue. Cubyn entered receivership (redressement judiciaire) on July 22, 2024 and was liquidated on September 27, 2024; its website announced it had permanently closed its doors.
02 / Cubyn FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Cubyn failed because a capital-intensive logistics model could not survive the post-pandemic correction. The company had built a heavy operational footprint - its own warehouse network, including a 25,000-square-meter Madrid hub, and a team of over 300 packers and couriers at its peak - on the back of venture funding and debt raised during the e-commerce boom. When demand normalized after the pandemic and financing dried up, the fixed costs of warehouses, automation, and staff overwhelmed the thin margins of parcel fulfillment. With 2023 revenue of €23.2 million insufficient to sustain the operation, the company entered receivership in July 2024 and was converted to liquidation in September 2024, closing its doors permanently.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Liquidation
Les Echos: for lack of a buyer the on-demand logistics startup was placed in judicial liquidation and 'put the key under the door.' Wikipedia: conversion 27 Sep 2024.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
The Paris-based e-commerce fulfillment and logistics company, founded in 2014 by Adrien Fernandez Baca, ran its own warehouse network and carrier-selection algorithms, claiming costs 30–50% lower.
- 02
Raised a $7 million Series A in 2017 (DN Capital), a €12 million (roughly $13.4 million) Series B in 2019, another $13.5 million, and Harbert venture debt in 2020.
- 03
On July 22, 2024 it entered judicial reorganization, converted to judicial liquidation on September 27, 2024, and closed permanently; 2023 revenue of €23.2 million (roughly $25 million) had not been enough to sustain operations.
- 04
No audited loss figure was publicly disclosed.