Ahead Of IPO Logistics Unicorn Delhivery Appoints Three Independent Directors

Ahead of its initial public offering, logistics unicorn Delhivery has appointed three new independent directors. The startup has roped in Kalpana Moparia, Romesh Sobti and Sugata Gupta as new independent directors

Moparia has earlier served as a chairman of J.P Morgan, south and southeast asia. It is worth noting that Delhivery has held talks with several banks, including JP Morgan, ICICI Securities, Bank of America, to manage its IPO. 

Moparia has also served as vice-chair on the boards of ICICI Group Companies. Apart from being an independent director in Delhivery, she holds a similar position in Hindustan Unilever, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, and Philip Morris International. 

Sobti who is a director on several boards including Aditya Birla Capital Ltd and Adani Green Energy has spent 46 years as a banker across public, foreign, and private sectors. He has been a managing director and CEO of Indusind Bank from 2008 to 2020. 

Gupta is a managing director and CEO of Marico Limited. Gupta is also an independent director on Ashok Leyland’s board. Besides, he is a member of the audit committee, nomination and remuneration committee and ESG Committee. 

Delhivery has also appointed Sri Rajan and  Deepak Kapoor as independent directors. The logistics unicorn said that it is also likely to appoint another woman independent director to its board.

Road To IPO

Earlier this week, Inc42 exclusively reported that the logistics unicorn had converted into a public company, a step required for a private company before filing its DRHP with the market regulator SEBI. 

The startup had also issued 1.68 Cr bonus shares worth INR 10, to equity shareholders in the ratio of 9:1.

According to Delhivery’s regulatory filings, as accessed by Inc42, the logistics unicorn has allotted 1,68,46,803 shares of INR 10 each fully paid up — taking the total number of shares from 18,71,868 to 1,87,18,670 bonus shares, which will be allotted to 90 existing equity shareholders of the company. 

Last month, Inc42 was the first to report that former Tiger Global executive Lee Fixel’s investment firm Addition was investing in the startup. The startup later confirmed that it had raised $125 Mn from the investment firm, marking it the second investment of Addition in the Indian startup ecosystem after news aggregator platform Inshorts. 

The round now seems to have been the pre-IPO round that startups usually raise before going public. As per media reports, Delhivery is eying for a $1 Bn IPO in the domestic market at $4 Bn – $4.5 Bn. 

Founded by Mohit Tandon, Sahil Barua, Bhavesh Manglani, Kapil Bharati and Suraj Saharan in 2011, the startup also acquired another logistics startup – Spoton Logistics, thus giving exits to Samara Capital and Xponentia.

 At present, the Gurugram-based claims to have completed 1 Bn shipments since its inception and boasts of a nationwide network covering over 17,000 pin codes. The startup offers a wide range of logistics services, including express parcel transportation, LTL and FTL freight, reverse logistics, cross-border, B2B & B2C warehousing, end-to-end supply chain services, and technology services.

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