Amazon today announced the opening of its first development centre in Swansea, Wales, for newly acquired Veeqo as well as other Amazon teams. Veeqo is a multichannel shipping software company built to help ecommerce sellers across the UK and US. Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales, will attend the opening ceremony, together with Veeqo’s CEO, Matt Warren, and Amazon UK Country Manager, John Boumphrey.
There are two reasons this is notable. First Wales is a relatively small country and in the grand scheme of things this is a significant investment bringing well paid highly skilled tech jobs to the region. Second, Veeqo has been made free to use for retailers since it’s acquisition by Amazon so if you are currently assessing your business costs and wondering where you can save, Veeqo should be top of your list to check if it can manage your multichannel requirements. This investment by Amazon demonstrates their commitment to continue to develop Veeqo and make it one of the leading multichannel solutions available.
Veeqo, a Swansea-founded technology company, was acquired by Amazon in 2021, and its services are now available for free to the 85,000 small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) selling on Amazon in the UK, as well as the nearly 500,000 Amazon sellers based in the US. The company makes ecommerce more efficient, effortless, and scalable for startups and small businesses by helping them fulfil their customers’ orders across multiple websites and stores, syncing their inventory and automatically providing low-cost shipping rates.
With Amazon’s support, Veeqo has grown its workforce by 50% in the last six months, including highly-skilled tech roles such as software development engineers, technical product managers, and knowledge engineers, as well as UX designers, product managers, and business analysts. Veeqo will continue to work closely with nearby universities, including the University of Swansea and The University of Wales Trinity Saint David, to provide placements for software and engineering students.
The new site marks the latest milestone in Amazon’s investment in skills and talent development in the country. Since 2010, Amazon has invested £1.7 billion in Wales and created 2,000 jobs across the country, according to its Economic Impact Hub. In addition, Amazon’s investment has contributed an estimated £1.7 billion to the region’s GDP since 2010 through the production of goods and services. The new development centre will join Amazon’s existing fulfilment centre in Swansea, which recently celebrated its 15-year anniversary.
Our new office in Swansea will be a hub from which Veeqo can build the services which make it easier for entrepreneurs and small businesses to sell around the world. I am proud that Amazon saw the value of our amazing team, and that we have continued to create highly-skilled tech jobs in Wales.
– Matt Warren, CEO, Veeqo
Swansea has been a centre of tech talent and academic excellence for many years now, so we are delighted to open our first development centre in Wales, working closely with Veeqo to build the cutting-edge tools which will supercharge growth for its ecommerce partners, benefiting millions of customers. This is a major milestone for Amazon’s commitment to Wales, where we have invested £1.7 billion since 2010, and supported 2,500 small business sellers to date.
– John Boumphrey, UK Country Manager, Amazon
The acquisition of Veeqo by Amazon is a vote of confidence in the tech sector in the region. It’s great to see the business attracting new investment and recruiting software developers and product designers. The investment in this new corporate office in SA1 by Amazon supports the regeneration of Swansea, creating sustainable employment on the waterfront.
– Mark Drakeford, First Minister
Ecommerce companies can cut the cost and hassle of multichannel fulfilment with Veeqo’s free shipping software, which now includes improved inventory control and reporting, as well as the ability to help sellers pick, pack, and ship every order with a mobile device at www.veeqo.com.
