Vahak, an online road transport marketplace, today, raised a seed funding led by Leo Capital, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology investments.
The funding whose amount is undisclosed by the startup also witnessed the participation of other prominent investors namely Amit Gupta, Founder Yulu Bikes; Abhishek Goyal, Founder, Tracxn; Ramakant Sharma, Founder, LivSpace; Harsh Pokharna, Founder, OkCredit; and Archana Priyadarshini, Angel investor and ex Unicorn India Ventures Partner.
Vahak, which enables logistic companies to connect with truck owners, brokers, and other transporters pan India through its online platform aims to use the seed funding to strengthen its team and technological capabilities. It will also work towards taking its product to the next level and reach a larger customer base in the next one year.
“The trust gap currently present in the Indian road transport market highly limits the business potential and expansion for transporters, agents and lorry owners. This is where Vahak steps in to leverage technology and help the stakeholders connect with each other seamlessly. We believe that online brand creation coupled with a huge network can bring in wonderful growth opportunities especially for the small and medium scale transport businesses. We are happy to have raised this funding amount and will use it to strengthen our technology and customer acquisition.”
~Karan Shaha, Co-founder and CEO, Vahak
A study by the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) pegs annual investments in the logistics sector to reach $500 billion by 2025. The sector is already witnessing technological disruption with innovative B2B logistics startups employing cutting edge technology such as robotics, automation, data analytics, and Internet of Things (IoT).
“Before investing in a startup, we primarily lookout for tech leverage and the ability for significant scale-up. Vahak founders have a deep rooted experience of logistics at the ground level which enables them to understand and speed up the technology adoption for these businesses. For us, Vahak met all our criteria and we are happy to offer them funding support. Logistics is a booming sector and a there is a huge need of a marketplace like Vahak especially at a time when the COVID pandemic and resultant economic downturn has necessitated the resumption of inter-state business activities. We are hopeful that the startup will be able to utilize the funding for further growth and expansion.”
~Dinesh Singh, Investor, Leo Capital,
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised fears about a near-certain global economic recession, and the investment ecosystem in India has not been very bright recently. However, investors are looking up to startups that are making a difference and providing tech-based solutions to overcome the crisis on various fronts. The seed funding to Vahak also comes in light of this and underscores the huge potential of logistics in the current scenario.
The startup founded in 2017 since its inception has built a transporter network of over 40,000 with a reach in 3000 plus locations pan India. Growing at over 200% quarterly, it caters to over 500 daily active loads.
