Khazanah commits $40m to India's Xpressbees
Malaysia sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional has invested USD 40m in India-based logistics start-up Xpressbees through the acquisition of shares from one of the company’s early backers.
Elevation Capital sold a 4% stake to Khazanah at a pre-money valuation of USD 1.2bn, Indian media reported. This was also the valuation when The Blackstone Group, TPG Capital, and ChrysCapital Partners participated in a USD 300m round in February 2022. That deal included USD 200m in secondary equity; Elevation and Alibaba Group made partial exits and an unnamed Chinese investor made a full exit.
A statement released by Avendus Capital, which advised on the latest transaction, identified Blackstone, TPG, ChrysCapital, Alibaba, Elevation, Investcorp, Norwest Venture Partners, and Gaja Capital as ongoing investors in Xpressbees. Blackstone and TPG both backed the company via their growth capital units.
Xpressbees was established by the team behind mother-and-baby retailer FirstCry. The business spun out from its parent in 2015, with Amitava Saha, a co-founder of FirstCry, taking on the role of CEO. It is not the only unicorn to emerge from FirstCry – brand agglomeration platform GlobalBees also achieved this status in 2022.
The company is an end-to-end logistics provider, covering B2B and B2C express services, cross-border, and third-party logistics. It has a presence in more than 5,000 cities – including over 100 logistics hubs – and 3m square feet of warehouse capacity. The company delivers over 2m packages per day.
"There is a huge opportunity for tech-led disruption in logistics. We have established a leading brand but are still early in our growth story. We continue on our path to become a dominant end-to-end logistics player and look to leverage any strategic opportunities," Saha said.
Other private equity-backed players in India's logistics space include BlackBuck, Delhivery, and Ecom Express. Delhivery completed a domestic IPO last year and now has a market capitalisation of INR 273bn (USD 3.3bn) and Ecom Express is expected to follow suit.
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