Deal focus: Blume re-ups with RoadRunnr

Blume Ventures' most recent return investment - Bangalore-based logistics start-up RoadRunnr - falls into the latter category. The company was set up by former Flipkart employees Mohit Kumar and Arpit Dave earlier this year. Blume was one of the seed investors alongside Nexus Venture Partners; both decided to re-up for the RoadRunnr's $11 million Series A round last week.

"The company started out as food delivery platform but has now extended into laundry, groceries and courier services, as the home services market has exploded in India," explains Adit Parekh, a principal with Blume."It all relates back to e-commerce, and the drive for more convenience and lower cost."

The platform provides delivery services for business customers including online and offline retailers and restaurants. Clients can use an app to order deliveries, which are processed through a network of smart phone-connected couriers to find the closest one.

The business model is comparable to existing sharing economy applications, such as Indian taxi booking app Ola - which was also backed by Blume - with RoadRunnr providing a technology platform that matches a network of independent operators with client demand. The start-up will use this latest round of funding to bolster its team of engineers and build out its platform to keep pace with rising demand.

"This investment is mainly so the company can get the right kind of manpower in the team, scale up supply, and then we will look to expand into more cities," says Parekh.

RoadRunnr is currently focused on high-density urban centers like Mumbai, New Delhi, Gurgaon and Hyderabad, but will gradually branch out into smaller areas. Meanwhile, the courier fleet is dominated by motorcycles and scooters but there are plans to enlarge the platform and offer other modes of transport such as bicycles and trucks.

RoadRunnr is not the only player in the space. It competes with Grab, which recently raised $1 million from Oliphans Capital. Then there is also grocery delivery app Grofers and logistics marketplace Porter; both are VC-backed. It is possible that ride-sharing platforms like Ola and US counterpart Uber may also expand into logistics, but Parekh says he is not concerned.

"We don't know Uber's plans but we have seen Ola branch out into food delivery with Ola Cafe," he observes. "However, I think the transport and logistics services is a big enough market in India, at least for the next four or five years."

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Venture
• India
• TMT
• Blume Ventures
• Venture
• Logistics