Mumbai-based online logistics startup, The Porter, through which one can book trucks and tempos has raised INR 3 Cr. from Kae Capital.
Founded in 2014 by 3 IIT graduates Pranav Goel, Uttam Digga and Vikas Choudhary, The Porter’s mobile app allows users to hire vehicles for relocation or to move perishables, ecommerce deliveries and even construction supplies.
The Porter plans to use the funds for expansion of its truck fleet in Mumbai, and will further expand business in Delhi and Bengaluru within 2-3 months. The company currently has a fleet of 100 trucks in Mumbai.
The company will also be spending on expanding its team size which currently consists of 40 people.
“Like Uber and Ola have organised the taxi industry, we are doing the same thing for intracity goods movement with mainly LCVs (light commercial vehicles) and omni vans” said Goel, who is expecting to raise another series-A funding of INR 30-40 Cr. in the coming six months.
ThePorter is reportedly getting 2,000+ transactions per month, and the monthly revenues of over INR 25 lakh. The startup has signed up few corporate clients which includes ITC, Delhivery and UrbanLadder.
According to Sasha Mirchandani, founder of Kae Capital, “On-demand intra-city transportation logistics is clearly a big pain-point for enterprises and individual consumers.”
As per a Tracxn research, since 2012, more than two dozen ventures have come up in the intra-city logistics space across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Few startups in this space include Moovo, Shippr and Blowhorn, which had raised capital from Unitus Seed Fund in November.
To be noted, online cab booking startups are also trying to leverage the on demand logistics space. Just recently, Ola started with food delivery and is also in plans to launch grocery delivery service. Whereas, Uber launched Uber-CARGo in Hong Kong and bike couriers in New York.
According to the recent report, logistics sector in India, which is now worth $100 Bn, will be worth $385 Bn by 2015. Just last week, logistics analytics startup, LogiNext Solutions raised seed funding of INR 3 Cr. from Indian Angel Network (IAN).
