Shadowfax Cofounders Infuse INR 65 Cr In IPO-Bound Startup

SUMMARY

Sources told Inc42 that the startup raised the capital at a post-money valuation of $750 Mn (about INR 6,518.51 Cr)

Of the total INR 65.4 Cr funding, Bansal infused INR 37.3 Cr while Khandelwal invested INR 28.1 Cr

In a separate filing, Shadowfax said it has raised INR 10.9 Cr from IMM India Fund through issuance of 1,838 Series F CCPS

IPO-bound logistics major ShadowFax has secured a funding of INR 65.4 Cr (about $7.5 Mn) from its cofounders Vaibhav Khandelwal and Abhishek Bansal.

Sources told Inc42 that the startup raised the capital at a post-money valuation of $750 Mn (about INR 6518.51 Cr). The funding is part of a larger funding round of about $50 Mn that Shadowfax is raising.

Of the total INR 65.4 Cr funding, Bansal infused INR 37.3 Cr while Khandelwal invested INR 28.1 Cr.

The startup’s board on March 4 approved a resolution to allot 21,358 Series Y1, Y2, and Y3 compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) to the cofounders at an issue price of INR 30,638 per CCPS to raise the sum, its filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) showed.

In a separate filing, Shadowfax said it has raised INR 10.9 Cr from IMM India Fund through issuance of 1,838 Series F CCPS. This was an extension of the INR 96.2 Cr funding that the startup raised from Edelweiss Discovery Fund – Series I, NewQuest Asia Fund IV (Singapore) and InCred Growth Partners Fund – I, among others, in February.

Last month, Shadowfax raised INR 34.24 Cr (around $4 Mn) in a Series F funding round from existing investors Mirae Asset and Nokia Growth Partners.

The investment comes on the back of reports that the company is looking to list on the bourses by the second half of 2025. Shadowfax is eyeing to raise INR 2,500 Cr to INR 3,000 Cr via its initial public offering (IPO) at a valuation of INR 5,000-8,000 Cr.

Last year in February, the company raised $100 Mn (INR 828.78 Cr) as a part of its Series E funding round led by TPG NewQuest, with participation from existing investors like Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India), Flipkart, International Finance Corporation, Nokia Growth Partners, Qualcomm and Trifecta Capital.

The round also gave a partial exit to its first institutional investor from 2015, Eight Roads Ventures.

Founded in 2015 by Khandelwal and Bansal, Shadowfax provides hyper-local and on-demand deliveries to businesses. It counts ecommerce platforms like Flipkart and Meesho among its clients.

To date, the logistics services startup has raised over $212 Mn. It counts Flipkart, Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India), and Qualcomm among its backers. It competes against the likes of Delhivery, Ecom Express, XpressBees, Shiprocket LoadShare, Ripple, and Pickrr in the logistics segment.

While Delhivery is a listed company, its other two counterparts Ecom Express and Shiprocket are reportedly gearing up for an IPO this year.

In January this year, Shadowfax acquired transportation and logistics company CriticaLog India Private to scale its offerings. As per its website, it currently has a distribution network covering over 2,500 cities and more than 18,000 pincodes.

On the financial front, Shadowfax narrowed its net loss by nearly 92% to INR 11.8 Cr in the financial year ended March 31, 2024 (FY24) from INR 142.6 Cr in FY23. Operating revenue jumped 33.19% to INR 1,884.8 Cr during the year under review from INR 1,415.1 Cr in the previous year.