SUMMARY
Bertelsmann India, Fosun participated in the round
LetsTransport will use fresh funds to add new portfolio verticals
It plans to reach 20 Indian cities in FY18
Bengaluru-based tech-enabled logistics marketplace Diptab Ventures Pvt. Ltd, which runs under the brand name LetsTransport, has raised $14.2 Mn (INR 100 Cr) in Series B funding from Bertelsmann India Investments, Fosun International and other investors.
Talking to Inc42, Pushkar Singh, cofounder and CEO of LetsTransport said that the company will use the fresh funds to strengthen new technology, add new portfolio verticals and scale up its operations.
Founded in January 2015 by Pushkar Singh, Sudarshan Ravi, and Ankit Parasher, LetsTransport facilitates inter-city aggregation of mini trucks and large vehicles across industry sectors such as retail, FMCG, and ecommerce across B2B and B2C segments. It also provides intra-city logistics solutions for everyday errands like shifting houses, buying furniture, electronics, etc. Customers can book a truck using the company’s online platform.
In October, reports had surfaced that the company had raised $12 Mn (INR 84.36 Cr) in funding from Fosun and other investors, however, the company has issued a media statement on Thursday (December 20) confirming a larger amount.
Prior to this round, the company had raised $6.6 Mn (INR 46.4 Cr) from investors like Neelesh Bhatnagar, the former CEO of Landmark Arabia, along with GMO, a Japan-based payment gateway company, and Rebright Partners, a Singapore-based Japanese venture capital firm on its side.
With operations in seven cities, Singh told Inc42 that the company has identified major manufacturing markets as their new target. With operations already in place in a couple of tier 2 cities, LetsTransport will now look to scale up in such markets where it has identified the need for technology it brings to the logistics industry.
LetsTransport also claims to be operationally profitable from last two years and has also doubled its gross margins over the last one year. The company is also eyeing overseas markets, Singh explained, adding that the company has found product-market fit across South Asian countries as well as Africa and is looking to leverage its new foreign investors to expand into new geographies.
LetsTransport boasts of clients like Coca-Cola, Amazon, Metro Cash & Carry, and Big Bazaar and has been enabling over 20,000 truckers across Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Vijayawada. For India, the company is looking to expand to over 20 cities by the end of the year.
Singh also emphasised that the company follows no promotional practices and discounts to attract its customer, its growth has been organic and it’s expecting to close the year with $14.2 Mn (INR 100 Cr) in revenue.
Pankaj Makkar, managing director at Bertelsmann India Investments said, “By leveraging technology to solve for fragmentation on the supply-side coupled with strong unit economics, we believe that the company is strategically placed to capture the pole position in the market.”
In the logistics space, for international logistics, there are players like Cogoport, GoBOLT, while in Indian logistics startups like BlackBuck, Rivigo, and Delhivery provide tech-based logistics services in the country.
