Airmee's CEO Elin Morales Härén was a guest on the podcast Framtidens e-handel ("The future of e-commerce"). Here is what she said about the company, grouped by topic. The full episode is available to listen to at the bottom.
months of positive EBITDA behind it, according to the CEO
of deliveries arrive on the promised day
of Sweden is reached with next-day delivery
The key points in brief
- Profitable in operations. Twelve months of positive EBITDA. The company is now watching whether net profit will also be positive for the whole of 2026.
- From minus 135 per cent. That is how low gross margin 1 was when Elin Morales Härén joined as CFO in 2019.
- Fast and precise. 98 per cent of deliveries arrive on the day the customer was promised. Next day covers 74 per cent of Sweden.
- Paid for speed. The service is priced so that online retailers can charge the consumer for it, and some are already making money on it.
- Its own technology. The routing algorithm is built in-house, with AI since 2016.
- The head office is big enough. According to the CEO, it does not need to grow much larger for the next stage of the growth journey.
- Next step. Peak 2026, more ICA agents and lockers, and faster deliveries in more cities.
Profitability
"We now have 12 months of positive EBITDA behind us."
Elin Morales Härén, CEO of Airmee
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 2016 | AI in the routing algorithm, "since 2016" according to the CEO |
| 2019 | Gross margin 1 of −135%. Roughly SEK 40 in revenue and SEK 110 in last-mile cost per parcel, according to the CEO |
| Early 2024 | The flywheel starts turning: volume brings a lower cost per parcel |
| 2025 | Not profitable for the full year |
| September 2026 | Twelve months of positive EBITDA behind it |
| Full year 2026 | To be followed up: will net profit be positive? |
Last year the company was not profitable. The flywheel works like this: more volume gives denser routes and a lower cost per parcel. The growing variable profit then covers the fixed costs.
The offering
| Service | Delivery | Reach |
|---|---|---|
| Next day | The next day | 74% of Sweden |
| Same day | Evening 17–22 | Nearly 4 million |
| Express | Evening 19–22 | Being expanded |
| ICA agents | Same day | Being broadened |
Same day is ordered in the morning, express before 16:00. Same day reaches around three million people today and nearly four million with the new terminal in Örebro.
Airmee was built on the thesis that Swedish consumers, just as in Korea, the US and the UK, will sooner or later want fast deliveries. Some online retailers, Apotea in her example, hand the goods over to Airmee themselves. With others, the company collects. This often happens at ten or eleven in the evening, to include the whole evening's sales.
The focus has also meant saying no to things. Earlier express and daytime deliveries were discontinued when the company had to decide which service it would sell. Express deliveries are now being expanded again. Customers who wanted other services have been told no, or have chosen not to use Airmee themselves.
Pricing
Quality and speed are what Airmee does not compromise on. Instead, the service is positioned to be able to charge a somewhat higher price, knowing where the online retailers' pain threshold lies.
- Delivery should cost something. According to the CEO, consumers are willing to pay for same-evening delivery, for example SEK 19 or 49 instead of zero.
- Online retailers profit from it. Some already charge more than Airmee costs them and make a few kronor per delivery.
- The price follows geography. A delivery in Gävle costs more than in Stockholm, and that shows in what the online retailer pays.
- Net freight as a measure. Revenue per delivery minus cost per delivery. Airmee encourages online retailers to calculate this way rather than just pushing down the cost.
The market and competition
According to Elin Morales Härén, the traditional logistics companies are built to move things from A to B as cheaply as possible. Airmee instead started from the best customer experience: fast, sustainable and at a price online retailers want to pay. According to her, that is a more complex problem to solve.
- Volume is growing. In the second quarter of 2026, around 70 million e-commerce parcels were delivered in Sweden, and the market is growing 10–20 per cent a year. The figures were mentioned by the podcast's producer, not by Airmee.
- Home and lockers are growing, agents are declining. According to studies she refers to, eight out of ten consumers want the parcel delivered to their home.
- Airmee specialises in home delivery and also offers lockers, via an open locker network, and agents at ICA.
What the costs look like
Airmee reads the income statement in kronor per parcel, not in per cent. The question is how much each parcel contributes and how many parcels are needed to carry the fixed costs.
- The last mile accounts for around 60 per cent of variable costs.
- Customer support is around 80 per cent variable, since it follows volume.
- Route planning decides whether a delivery costs SEK 23 or 30.
- Late orders with extra drivers would have been around SEK 4 more expensive per route. That is why they are added to existing routes.
- The terminals are rented, with agreements that can be scaled both up and down. That allowed the company to scale back when growth after the pandemic was lower than expected.
- The head office, according to the CEO, does not need to grow much larger for the next stage of the growth journey.
Technology and AI
"We always say that last mile is an optimisation problem."
Elin Morales Härén, CEO of Airmee
- Its own routing algorithm, AI since 2016. Orders that come in up to 13:00 digitally and 15:00 physically are added to routes that are already planned, instead of being handled with extra drivers.
- AI needs context. Without the company's own definitions and data, the answers are wrong. Airmee is therefore building a knowledge base of its own data and previous decisions.
- The goal: that a terminal manager, for example, gets concrete suggestions every morning about what should be done differently.
Quality versus cost
According to Elin Morales Härén, the balance between quality and cost is the industry's biggest challenge. Neither may give way to the other. Every morning the company reviews the previous day's quality and cost in some fifty regions.
Terminals and automation
- No fully automated hubs today. In the northern terminal, a large share of the goods comes in at three o'clock and must be sorted by half past three. No machine can handle that peak.
- Automation when the volume can carry it. So far the cost per parcel has been just as low manually. According to the CEO, volume is now starting to approach the level at which automation pays off.
- Almost 11,000 square metres of new terminal space, according to the CEO built for the next generation with more automation.
The management
Elin Morales Härén joined Airmee as CFO in 2019 and took over as CEO in 2023, when the founder Julian was ready to move on. She graduated from the Stockholm School of Economics (Handels) in 2010 and started at a company in mobile banking and payment solutions, rather than in banking or consulting.
Looking ahead
- Full focus on peak 2026: delivering the volume the online retailers forecast, while maintaining quality.
- A broader agent network with ICA, where parcels ordered in the morning are collected on the way home.
- More locker deliveries.
- Faster deliveries in more cities than Stockholm, at economics that work for the online retailers.
Listen to the episode
More about Airmee is available on the company page.
Source: Framtidens e-handel, episode 398, published 23 October 2026. The information is Elin Morales Härén's own in the interview, except the market figure, which is the producer's.
