India supply chain player Xpressbees raises $110m
Indian e-commerce delivery start-up Xpressbees has raised INR8 billion ($110 million) from Investcorp, Norwest Venture Partners, and Gaja Capital.
The three investors will take a combined 31% interest in the company, according to The Economic Times. It brings total funding to date to about $175 million, including a $10 million investment from Alibaba Group earlier this year.
Previous investors also include IDG Ventures India, New Enterprise Associates, SAIF Partners, Valiant Capital, Vertex Ventures, and InnoVen Capital India, according to AVCJ Research.
Xpressbees was spun out of Indian mother-and-baby retailer FirstCry in 2015 by FirstCry co-founders Amitava Saha and Supam Maheshwari, with Saha taking up the role of CEO at Xpressbees. Services include last-mile delivery, reverse logistics, payment collection, drop shipping, vendor management, cross-border services, fulfillment support, and tailored software solutions. Clients include some of the largest domestic e-commerce platforms, including Snapdeal, Flipkart, and Paytm Mall.
The company describes itself as the fastest-growing express logistics service provider in India catering to end-to-end supply chain solutions. It claims to facilitate 600,000 shipments a day. This compares to 50,000 deliveries a day in 2015.
The current operational footprint extends across 2,000 cities, including more than 50 cargo airports and 1 million square feet of warehouse capacity. The delivery staff numbers around 30,000, and there are some 500 customer care professionals.
India’s logistics industry has grown from about $130 billion in 2016 to $200 billion in 2020 on the back of increasing e-commerce activity and integration with global supply chains. The government's "Make In India" export initiative is also seen as driving the sector since an increase in products sent overseas will require more stringent, internationally standardized warehousing and delivery protocols locally.
Other PE-backed operators in this space include Delhivery and LoadShare Networks, as well as BlackBuck, which has also received investment from InnoVen.
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