Several sectors are gaining a lot out of the technology boom in the country, more than eCommerce itself, logistics is one of them. Be it first mile or last mile, logistics ventures have risen in India in every form. Owing to the great demand in the market due to the rise in online commerce in the recent times, particularly in food and grocery segment this year, these firms are gaining traction.
Below are the logistics firms which raised funds this year
| Company | Founded In | Based In | Funding Raised ($Mn) | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ecom Express | 2012 | Gurgaon | 133 | Warburg Pincus |
| Delhivery | 2011 | Gurgaon | 85 | Tiger Global, Nexus Venture Partners, Times Internet, Multiple Alternate Asset Management |
| Rivigo | 2014 | Gurgaon | 40 | SAIF Partners |
| Blackbuck | 2014 | Bangalore | 25 | Tiger Global, Apoletto, Accel Partners, Flipkart |
| GoJavas | 2015 | Gurgaon | 20 | Snapdeal |
| RoadRunnr | 2015 | Bangalore | 11 | Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners |
| LogiNext | 2014 | Mumbai | 10.5 | Paytm, Ajit Surana, Sanjay Mehta |
| Opinio | 2015 | Bangalore | 7 | Delhivery, Sands Capital, Accel Partners |
| The Porter | 2014 | Mumbai | 6 | Sequoia Capital, Kae Capital, Anupam Mittal, Sandeep Tandon |
| Zinka | 2014 | Bangalore | 6 | Accel Partners, Flipkart |
| Parcelled | 2015 | Bangalore | 5 | Delhivery, Tracxn labs |
| Connect India | 2014 | Bangalore | 4.7 | Aaviskaar |
| Truckmandi | 2014 | New Delhi | 2 | Ritesh Dwivedy (JustEat Founder), Ramakant Sharma (Livspace Founder), Mount Nathan Advisors |
| LetsTransport | 2015 | Bangalore | 1.3 | Rebright Partners, Ankush Nijhawan, Gaurav Bhatnagar, manish Dhingra |
| WowExpress | 2015 | Mumbai | 0.5 | Tamarind Family Private Trust |
| Quifers | 2015 | Mumbai | 0.3 | Vikar Agarwal, Vishal Khare, Sanjeev Kakkar, Smile Group |
| Shippr | 2014 | Bangalore | 0.3 | i2india Pvt Ltd |
| The Karrier | 2015 | Bangalore | 0.23 | Sol Primero, Outbox Ventures, Nikunj Jain |
| Locus | 2015 | Bangalore | Unknown | growX Ventures, Manish Singhal |
| Moovo | 2015 | New Delhi | Unknown | YouWeCan Ventures |
| Trukky | 2015 | Ahmedabad | Unknown | Gujarat based angel investors, MMY Co-Founders |
| Instavans | 2014 | Bangalore | Unknown | Suresh Vaswani |
| Hipship | 2013 | Bangalore | Unknown | Inara Capital, Rishi Khiani |
| Pickrr | 2015 | New Delhi | Unknown | Palaash Ventures |
| Patel Logistics | 1959 | Mumbai | Unknown | Frontline Strategy |
What is the industry expecting ahead?
Shown Above: Roadrunnr Co-Founders
Commenting on plans for 2016, Mohit Kumar, Co-founder & CEO, Roadrunnr, says, “We will be expanding the set of hyperlocal categories to electronics, gifting and large appliances and scaling up our intracity logistics service. Roadrunnr will look at South East Asian markets for expansion.” He further added “Local logistics will grow at a fast pace and all logistics companies will focus on growth. This year’s ecomm war will be fought on experience and not pricing. Delivery companies will fight over SLAs.”
Shown Above: Mayank Kumar, Co-Founder, Opinio
When asked how was 2015 for Opinio, its Co-founder & CEO, Mayank Kumar said “2015 was all about growth for us. In 2016 we are looking to boost efficiency and establish ourselves as the market leader.” Regarding how 2016 is going to be for logistics sector, he said “2016 will be in interesting time to be in the logistic industry! The main focus will be on providing innovative order fulfillment services, agile logistics software and providing reliable, disciplined same day delivery services.”
Shown Above: Rahul S Dogar, Co-Founder Director, HoliSol
Rahul S Dogar, Director, HoliSol, which was among the funded logistics in 2015, shared HoiSol’s future plans “Our agenda remains same, we will continue to build customer-centric supply chain solutions. In last 4 years, Holisol has built certain capabilities which we will now focus on scaling-up – we will expand our FC network of dedicated and multi-user FCs. 2ndly, we will build presence in key cities for last mile deliveries. Finally, we will enable our offerings with IT solutions to optimize and bring efficiencies into our customers’ supply chain. ” He further added, “I guess 2016 will be a very critical year for logistics companies. A couple of critical things are waiting to unfold: 1. Investors would like to move from paper to ground. Unit economics will have to be proven on ground in real-terms. 2. Consolidation will be the flavour of 2016. 3.The future of hyper-local will become clear. 4. Every logistics player will have to find and justify its place in the customers value-chain.”
Shown Above: Ecom Express Team
Ecom Express will continue extending footprint. Presently Goa and Haryana’s all pin code being serviced by us. In next 4 months they are going to cover 100% pin code of Tamil Nadu and Punjab states.
Sanjeev Saxena, Co-Founder and Director, Ecom Express says “Technology is going to make difference in this space. Ecom Express we have hired senior level IT professional and started in-house software and M-App development to meet the expectation of industry.” He further added “At country level setting up 7 Super processing centre along with fulfilment centre. We are ready to launching Cross Border eCommerce products for overseas E-tailers.”
Shown Above: Xitij Kothi, Co-Founder, Parcelld
Xitij Kothi, Co-Founder, Parcelld says that they’ll continue their focus on first mile logistics. With several marketplace retailers as their clients, and the marketplaces too, the company is doing well and sees a great gap in the market that they are able to fulfil.
It can be expected that this trend will continue in the coming few years as well. 2015 saw a few consolidations in this space, and eCommerce companies like Flipkart and Snapdeal showing interest in these companies, the founders can expect a bright future if they execute it right.