Logistics and distribution start-up ElasticRun has raised fresh funding worth $40 million in a Series C financing round. The round was led by Prosus Ventures, the venture arm of South African internet and media group Naspers. The already existing investors Avataar Ventures and Kalaari Capital also participated in the same.
The startup will use the fresh capital to on-board more neighbourhood stores and deepen its penetration in the country. ElasticRun is also working on new products to expand its offerings for brands and kirana stores and improving its analytics and machine learning algorithms to tackle larger scale.
Apart from this, the company will invest in building on its technology platform, and upgrading its analytics and machine learning platforms to handle the national scale.
Earlier, the company raised $17 million funding from investors like Avataar Ventures and Kalaari Capital.
Elastic run, founded by Sandeep Deshmukh, former senior executive at Amazon India, along with Saurabh Nigam and Shitiz Bansal, who were both with EdgeVerve, enables small store owners to leverage quiet times of the day and gain increased revenue by handling local last-mile deliveries.
Nearly every top FMCG brand in the country today is a partner of ElasticRun, said Deshmukh.
In a statement, Ashutosh Sharma, head of Investments for India, Prosus Ventures, said, “ElasticRun is one of those rare businesses that identified a massive need in the market, matched it with a local solution paired with technology, for the benefit of all parties involved. Consumers get faster deliveries and greater choice of goods, store owners realize increased revenues and touchpoints with their customers, and consumer goods companies get better access and insight into their target audiences.”
At the moment, ElasticRun cater to industries including FMCG, food, manufacturing and ecommerce. They compete in the market with Matrix Partners and Stellaris Venture Partners-backed Loadshare, founded by former Myntra top executive Raghuram Talluri.
