In a fresh investment round, Xpressbees, an Indian logistics startup that works with many e-commerce companies in the nation, has more than tripled its valuation to $1.2 billion. The Pune-based startup announced on Wednesday that it had raised $300 million in a Series F funding round from Blackstone, TPG, and ChrysCapital, with $100 million in primary funding and $200 million in secondary funding (to give Alibaba a partial exit and a full exit to one unnamed Chinese investor). The fresh capital brings the total amount raised by the company to $575.8 million.
Xpressbees is the second firm based in Pune to achieve unicorn status this week. ElasticRun, a commerce firm, announced in a filing on Monday that it had raised $1.5 billion in funding. More than 1,000 customers use Xpressbees to transport their products across the country, including financial and e-commerce behemoth Paytm, social commerce startup Meesho, eyeglasses supplier Lenskart, phone maker Xiaomi, online pharmacy NetMeds, and online marketplace Snapdeal. It operates in over 3,000 cities and towns, processing over 3 million orders per day.
Due to the rise of e-commerce and social-commerce businesses without their own logistics networks, 3PL (integrated supply chain services) e-commerce delivery players have acquired significant traction in the last four years. As more people in India’s rural and semi-urban areas continue to shop online, these logistics companies are likely to gain market share as they provide the “most effective last mile delivery to pin codes in rural and semi-urban areas,” according to a report published last year by Bernstein analysts.
“We’re thrilled to have Blackstone Expansion, TPG Growth, and ChrysCapital join us on our growth path.”We feel that their enormous network and operational knowledge will further fuel our efforts in seeking more possibilities and will assist grow our presence,” Xpressbees founder and CEO Amitava Saha said in a statement.
The startup, which expects to grow by 70% this fiscal year, intends to use the new cash to expand into a “full-service logistics” firm. Xpressbees is in competition with a number of companies, including Delhivery, which filed for a $1 billion IPO in November. FedEx, SoftBank, and Tiger Global are among the investors in Delhivery. In a statement, Mukesh Mehta, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone Private Equity, stated, “Xpressbees is playing a vital role in India’s expanding ecommerce sector, which is still at an early stage and has a huge runway of development.”
