Logistics Startup Pando Raises $9 Mn From Chiratae, Next47, Others

Chennai-based logistics and supply chain startup Pando has raised $9 Mn (INR 63.8 Cr) in funding led by Chiratae Ventures alongside existing investor Nexus Venture Partners. The round also witnessed participation from Siemens’ backed Next47, the venture capital firm’s first direct investment in India.

The round also included other angel investors, including VMWare India MD Ramkumar Narayan, Indifi CEO Alok Mittal and cofounder and xto10x CEO Saikiran Krishnamurthy.

Pando CEO Nitin Jayakrishnan in a press statement said that the company would be utilising the funds to scale its business to other markets including Southeast Asia and Europe, invest in technology and talent and enhance its transaction capabilities by working closely with its vendor partners.

Founded by Abhijeet Manohar and Nitin Jayakrishnan in 2017, Pando offers businesses a digital platform that optimises the number of touchpoints, decisions and overall costs in managing complex supply chains with services across channels. Some of its prominent clients include Marico, Philips, Britannia, ITC and the Tata Group among others.

The company claims to have grown 3-4x in the last one year. Prior to this, Pando had raised $2 Mn in a seed round of funding led by Nexus Venture Partners. Pando earns revenue through managing the entire freight network for companies on a multi-year contract and charges on the basis of the number of transactions and sales.

According to an IBEF report, the Indian logistics is poised to touch $215 Bn by 2020, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.5%. Currently, there are 22 Mn people employed in this sector, the number of people working is expected to reach 40 Mn by 2020.

At present, the logistics market is crowded with a lot of existing players and startups. Some of the players that are operating in this space include Cogoport, Rivigo, Shipsy, Delhivery, Blackbuck, Freightwalla among others. The logistics tech sector has produced three unicorns, as the rise of ecommerce, distribution for online platforms and hyperlocal deliveries have got the innovation and investments flowing in the sector.

Last month, Mumbai-based digital freight forwarding startup Freightwalla raised $4 Mn in Series A funding from Amplo, FJ Labs and Rogue One Capital among other existing investors such as Kae Capital and Tekton Ventures. In November 2019, Gurugram-based digital logistics platform Shipsy also raised an undisclosed amount of Pre-Series A funding by Info Edge (India) Ltd.

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.