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Logistics startup Delhivery has raised a funding of $395 million from SoftBank Group to become the first unicorn of 2019 from India. The latest funding secured by Delhivery in its Series F round has shot up its valuation to over $1.6 Billion. Existing investors Carlyle Group and Fosun International also participated in the round.
SoftBank and Delhivery had been in talks regarding this highly
anticipated funding since last year. Following this investment, Delhivery has put
on hold its decision to launch its Initial Public Offering. According to a
state media report, SoftBank and Carlyle Group now own around 23.41 percent and
12.39 percent respectively of the company.
Delhivery was founded in 2011 by Sahil Barua, Bhavesh Manglani, Kapil Bharati, Suraj Saharan and Mohit Tandon as a 3PL service provider. Today, the company has 19 automated sort centres, 30 fulfilment centres, 44 hubs, 2500+ direct delivery centres, 5000+ partner centres, 14000+ vehicles and 21000+ team members. They claim to have delivered over 340 million orders till date to 50 million households across the country.
SoftBank’s investment in Delhivery comes at a time when startups from the logistics industry are evolving at an unprecedented rate by means of technological innovations. More and more startups are entering this domain and are providing best-in-class services, especially in the 3PL and last-mile delivery segment. Recently, XpressBees has raised a venture debt of Rs. 35 crore from InnoVen Capital. According to a report on Financial Express, three companies from the logistics sector namely Rivigo, Blackbuck and GreyOrange (a warehouse automation startup) are likely to achieve Unicorn status in 2019. We at Logistics Insider hope to see more and more startups from the logistics industry enter the much coveted Unicorn Club in the coming days.
