BlackBuck Bags INR 56 Cr From Trifecta In Mixed Round Of Debt And Equity

Bengaluru-headquartered logistics startup BlackBuck has raised INR 56 Cr in a mixed round of equity and debt funding from Trifecta Venture. According to the latest company’s Registrar of Companies filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), the BlackBuck board has approved allotment of 322 Series D CCPS equity shares and 500 series A non-convertible debentures by private placement to Trifecta, according to an entrackr report.

The online B2B logistics solutions marketplace has raised INR 50 Cr in debt funding at a price of INR 10 Lakh per share and is yet to receive INR 6.23 Cr.

The latest round takes the total funding for BlackBuck to $285.2 Mn. The funds will be used in supporting product and data sciences capabilities to enable more efficient freight matching processes. The company claims to work with around 3 Lakh truckers and says the increase in the number of fleet owners has led to a 30% rise in earnings.

The company closed a $150 Mn Series D round at the end of February 2019. The round was led by Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and Silicon Valley-based Accel. The funds were used to penetrate deeper into the market. The company had also said as part of Series D that its employees had access to liquidating 25% of their total vested stocks. In FY18, the company reported a 59% jump in its revenue to $128.3 Mn (INR 902 Cr) with a loss of $16.6 Mn (INR 116.7 Cr), up 35% in the year.

It is to be noted that BlackBuck earns about 15-20% commission for providing business to trucks it hires. It has truck services listed on its platform and does an intelligent match for customers, based on their requirements.

BlackBuck was founded in 2015 by Rajesh Yabaji, Chanakya Hridaya, and Rama Subramaniam. The company offers its services across more than 1,000 locations and also reaches more than 2,000 villages in India. The Indian logistics sector is currently valued at $160 Bn and is expected to hit $215 Bn by 2020 with the demand coming mainly from the Indian ecommerce industry.  To address the needs of the ecommerce industry and to drive growth, logistics startups today are using innovative new technologies including logistics-related software solutions, last-mile delivery, robotics, automation solutions.