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§ Private Profile · Santa Monica, CA, USA
Grocery delivery service offering 10-minute delivery of snacks and everyday groceries for college students, operating from university storefronts.
Based in Santa Monica, California, Duffl operates a rapid ten-minute grocery and convenience store delivery service specifically targeted at college students residing on or near university campuses. The company utilizes a localized student-driven workforce equipped with electric scooters to distribute high-margin wholesale products directly from dedicated campus-adjacent retail storefronts. Backed by the Y Combinator accelerator program, the logistics platform currently serves major university markets across the country, including UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, and UT Austin. Operating with a core corporate team of approximately twelve employees, the enterprise has generated an estimated $7.7 million in annual revenue. The organization previously closed a $12 million Series A funding round to support its strategic plans for expanding delivery operations to over fifty educational institutions. Duffl was originally founded in 2019 by entrepreneurs David Lin and Brian Le.
Duffl has raised $13.0M across 2 funding rounds.
Key people at Duffl.
Duffl was founded in 2019 by David Lin (Founder) and Brian Le (Co-Founder / CTO) and Graham Farrell (Founder) and Rohun Vora (Founder).
Duffl has raised $13.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Duffl has raised $13.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $12.0M Series A in September 2021.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2021 | $12M Series A | — | 1984 Ventures, 8VC, Arrive, Benchmark, Canvas Ventures, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, O'Shaughnessy Ventures, Positive SUM VC, Sequoia Capital, The Family Fund, Thrive Capital, TQ Ventures, Volition Capital, Anjula Acharia Bath, Edward Norton, Hannah Bronfman, Nick Jonas, Venus Williams | Announced |
| Jun 1, 2020 | $1M Seed | — | 1984 Ventures, 75 & Sunny, Canvas Ventures, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, GoAhead Ventures, Khosla Ventures, MAX Ventures, RET Ventures, Volition Capital, Eytan Elbaz, James Beshara, Jared Simon, Jeffrey Wilke, Nick Green | Announced |
Duffl was founded in 2019 by David Lin (Founder) and Brian Le (Co-Founder / CTO) and Graham Farrell (Founder) and Rohun Vora (Founder).
Duffl has raised $13.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Duffl's investors include 1984 Ventures, 8VC, Arrive, Benchmark, Canvas Ventures, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, O'Shaughnessy Ventures, Positive Sum VC, Sequoia Capital, The Family Fund, Thrive Capital.
Duffl is a 10-minute delivery service specifically designed for college students, providing ultra-fast delivery of snacks and essentials directly on campus using electric scooters and a student-driven workforce. The company leverages data to wholesale high-demand, high-margin products, enabling quick, reliable service tailored to student needs. Duffl operates on multiple college campuses including UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, and others, aiming to empower students to serve each other efficiently[2][3][4].
The service solves the problem of urgent, last-minute needs for snacks and groceries among college students, who often face inconvenient store hours or long delivery times. Duffl’s model emphasizes speed, convenience, and affordability with a flat delivery fee, positioning itself as a niche player in the fast-growing quick-commerce sector targeting the college demographic[1][4][5].
Duffl was founded in 2019 by a team of UCLA students including David Lin (CEO) and Brian Le (Co-founder/CTO), who met through Y Combinator’s Winter 2020 batch. The idea emerged from their firsthand experience as students craving quick access to snacks and essentials without the hassle of traditional grocery shopping. The name "Duffl" references the entrepreneurial spirit of selling goods out of duffle bags, reflecting their student-driven approach[2][4].
Early traction came from launching at UCLA and expanding to other campuses, refining their model to use electric scooters for rapid delivery and employing fellow students as delivery "racers." This approach allowed them to build a community-centric service with intimate campus knowledge, differentiating from larger delivery services[2][4].
Duffl rides the quick-commerce trend, which emphasizes ultra-fast delivery of everyday essentials, a sector growing rapidly due to consumer demand for convenience and immediacy. Targeting college campuses is a strategic niche, as students represent a concentrated, tech-savvy demographic with frequent, urgent needs. The timing aligns with increased adoption of electric scooters and micro-mobility solutions on campuses, enabling efficient last-mile delivery.
Market forces favor Duffl’s model as traditional grocery shopping habits shift toward on-demand services, especially among younger consumers. By focusing on a specific community and leveraging student labor, Duffl influences the broader ecosystem by demonstrating how hyper-localized, peer-driven delivery can compete with larger, more generalized quick-commerce players[4].
Duffl’s future likely involves expanding to more campuses and refining its logistics to maintain rapid delivery while controlling costs. Trends shaping its journey include continued growth in quick-commerce, increased micro-mobility adoption, and evolving student consumer behavior favoring convenience.
Sustaining funding and scaling efficiently will be critical challenges, as the quick-commerce space is capital-intensive and competitive. However, Duffl’s niche focus and community-driven model position it well to deepen its influence in the college market and potentially inspire similar hyper-local delivery models in other verticals or demographics[4].
Overall, Duffl exemplifies how targeted, data-driven, and community-powered delivery services can redefine convenience for specific user groups, tying back to its mission of empowering students to better serve each other with speed and reliability.
Key people at Duffl.
