‘Halting all bookings’: Sendle keeps customers in the dark amid abrupt closure

The sudden shutdown of delivery software platform Sendle has left small business owners frustrated and scrambling to fulfil orders after a major investor froze funding following the discovery of “significant deficiencies” in Sendle’s parent company.

The courier network, which had been positioning itself as an alternative to Australia Post, issued an email to customers on Sunday morning stating that it was ceasing operations.

“I am sorry to let you know that, effective immediately, Sendle will be halting all bookings for parcel pick-up and delivery,” the email said.

Deliveries scheduled for today or a later date have been cancelled, while parcels that have already been picked up or were on their way may have been fulfilled “at the discretion of the delivery partner”.

Sendle did not provide contact details for customers. Delivery questions should be directed to the “relevant delivery partner”, the email said.

“We understand this may be disruptive to your business, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Mark Dando, the founder of healthy milk powder flavouring business Rolley, which is based in Sydney’s northern beaches, said he was annoyed and frustrated to find out about Sendle’s shutdown through media articles.

“Last night, I’ve gone to go and pack all the orders, and the system just wasn’t allowing any of the package pick-ups, which it usually does. I had another go at it this morning, and it still wasn’t working, so I Googled it,” he told this masthead.

“We weren’t actually told directly that what had happened. We had just been left in the lurch.”

By Monday morning, Dando had more than 100 outstanding orders waiting to be packed and shipped. He printed shipping labels manually and took the packages to his closest Australia Post office, where he purchased prepaid satchels at about $9.70 a bag, incurring higher costs than what he would have paid through Sendle ($7 for a Sydney delivery).

“I’m going to have to wear that cost on those orders,” Dando said.

“It’s a huge f---ing organisation … For them to just shut down overnight and be done with it, without any thought of the absolute tsunami that it hits when it gets down to the ground level of not just the operators, but all the customers, there’s just such a ripple effect throughout the e-commerce universe.”

Aramex, one of Sendle’s primary courier partners, said it was ready to support small businesses looking for a different delivery provider.

“Aramex has a long history of delivering for Sendle customers. Aramex operations continue as normal, providing reliable courier services to our customers,” said Aramex Oceania regional director Mark Little in a statement.

“We encourage customers impacted by Sendle’s operational cessation to open an aramexConnect account.”

An eBay spokesperson said it was implementing measures to minimise impact and encouraged sellers to switch to Australia Post for new orders. Shopify, which use Sendle as a delivery partner, have been contacted for comment.

Sendle was founded in 2014 in Sydney to challenge Australia Post’s monopoly by offering small business door-to-door delivery at a flat rate. Sendle does not own any trucks or warehouses of its own; it operates like an “Uber for parcels”, as a platform connecting small businesses to logistics companies and couriers. It expanded to the US and Canada in 2025.

The shutdown has been attributed to a major investor, Federation Asset Management, which froze funding after finding deficiencies and financial irregularities in a three-way merger in 2025, of which Sendle was a party.

In August last year, Sendle merged with two US logistics firms, FirstMile and ACI Logistix, to form a new group called FAST Group.

Federation Asset Management was a key architect and backer of the merger, dedicating 64 per cent of its $100 million Alternatives Fund to the newly created FAST Group.

However, Federation Asset Management froze the fund in late December and told investors it had uncovered “significant deficiencies” in ACI Logistix’s financial statements following the merger, reported US freight market publication FreightWaves.

In total, Sendle raised about $110 million over its 12 years across investors including Giant Leap, Rampersand, Full Circle and NRMA.

Co-founder James Chin Moody has been contacted for comment. PR representatives for Sendle declined to respond to further questions from this masthead.

“Sendle has informed its customers that it is no longer taking any future bookings. We are not able to provide any further comment at this time.”

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