Logistics Platform 4tigo Raises $10 Mn Funding From Nandan Nilekani, Accel Partners

Bengaluru-based truck network platform 4tigo Network Logistics has raised about $10 Mn Series A funding from existing investors Accel Partners and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, according to regulatory filings, reported Livemint.

4tigo was launched in September 2015 by IIT Kanpur alumni Vivek Malhotra and Anjani Mandal (former CEO at Manipal Technologies Ltd). 4tiGo Network is a technology platform for fleet owners, truck owner/drivers, brokers/agents, transporters, and transport companies to look for onward loads to next destination and/or place loads to find matching trucks with best rates.

The company has representatives present across all districts, transport hubs and industrial estates in all the six states of South India. They place the entire load requirement received onto the platform. Then these loads become visible to all the trucks that are near (100 kms or around) the load pick-up point. The truck then chooses the load that best suits their destination and price expectation.

The startup had earlier raised about $2 Mn Seed funding from Nilekani and Accel in 2015.

The startup looks to utilise the newly raised funds to expand its current network of trucks and invest in building its core technology product. Apart from this, the company will also look to build out a payments platform for the logistics industry, with the funds as per co-founder Malhotra. He also stated that the company will help small and medium-sized fleet owners in getting on the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN).

Subrata Mitra, partner at Accel Partners India said, “With the proposed GST coming up and growing importance of electronic payments in business transactions, we expect the 4tigo Network to play a significant role in transforming the unorganised and fragmented transport industry. As India’s only freight exchange enabled with transactions, 4tigo also provides unique value-adds including electronic payments at primary as well as secondary levels.”

As per the company website, its network spans all the six states of South India and the transport hubs of Mumbai, Pune, NCR, Kolkata, Bhopal & Indore. As per Malhotra, the  company has about 6,500 trucks on its platform.

In April 2017, Kalaari Capital and Norwest Venture Partners led a $7 Mn funding round in ElasticRun, a Pune-based stealth startup in the logistics space. In March 2017, Delhi-based ecommerce logistics firm, Delhivery raised $100 Mn in funding from US-based investment fund Carlyle Asia Partners, with participation from existing investor Tiger Global. Other startups in the logistics segment Rivigo, Locus, Locanix, BlackBuck, etc.