Exclusive: Amid Supply Chain Hurdles, BlackBuck Is Raising Debt From Trifecta

Update | 21:00, May 09, 2020

According to fresh company filings, BlackBuck has raised INR 25 Cr in debt from Trifecta Capital. 

 Bengaluru-headquartered logistics startup BlackBuck has been making headlines for layoffs as the transport sector goes through the roughest period in recent times due to the pandemic and the lockdown. The company has now opted to secure fresh funding to ramp up its business as some parts of the country open up.

According to ministry of corporate affairs filings accessed by Inc42, the company in a meeting on April 27, offered and issued Series B debentures and tranche B preference shares to Trifecta Capital.

BlackBuck is raising INR 25 Cr debt by issuing 250 debentures at a price of INR 10 Lakh per share and INR 3.16 Cr funding by issuing 161 tranche B CCPS at a face value of INR 10 with a premium of INR 1,93,579.51 per share.

In the filings, the company said that in order to meet its growth objectives and to strengthen its financial position is fresh funding. 

The company last secured INR 56 Cr in a mixed round of equity and debt funding from Trifecta Capital in November 2019. The company has till date raised $293 Mn from investors like Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, IFC etc.

Founded in 2015 by Rajesh Yabaji, Chanakya Hridaya, and Rama Subramaniam, BlackBuck has a presence in more than 1,000 locations and its network is claimed to reach more than 2,000 villages in India. 

The company uses technology to match truckers with shippers in real-time, enabling transparency, higher fleet utilisation, better shipper services levels, and efficient pricing. It also facilitates services around trucking, by providing fleet cards, tyres, IoT, insurance and working capital credit to truckers.

Due to lockdown and travel restrictions, logistics is one of the most severely impacted sectors. BlackBuck was said to be laying off around 200 employees due to the revenue disruption. The impacted departments include customer experience and the operations team. The company is trying to get several of the affected employees placed in other organisations, according to reports.

Logistics technology has been proving helpful for sectors like ecommerce where technology backend helps companies in route planning and optimisation, fleet and rider metrics, and data analytics.