Xpressbees Enters Unicorn Club With $300 Mn Funding From Blackstone, TPG

Logistics startup Xpressbees has become the latest entrant to the unicorn club after raising $300 Mn in its Series F funding round led by private equity funds Blackstone Growth, TPG Growth and ChrysCapital. 

The round also saw participation from existing investors Investcorp and Norwest Venture Partners, thus helping the startup’s valuation soar close to $1.2 Bn. With this investment, Xpressbees total funding has touched $500 Mn.

Xpressbess will utilise the fresh investment to evolve into a full-service logistics organisation, support the business in its next phase of growth, product development, and hiring talent. 

Amitava Saha, founder, and CEO, Xpressbees said, “We are excited to welcome our new partners Blackstone Growth, TPG Growth, and ChrysCapital in our growth journey. With their vast network and operational expertise, we believe that they will further fuel our efforts in pursuing newer opportunities and will help expand our footprint.”

The investment comes almost two years after it had raised $110 Mn in its Series E funding round from Investcorp, Norwest Venture Partners, and Gaja Capital. The round valued the startup at around $400 Mn. This means, the latest round of funding has pushed Xpressbees valuation by 3X. 

Founded in 2015 after being spun off from ecommerce giant FirstCry, Xpressbees is at present across 3000 cities, serving over 20,000 pin codes, and delivers over 1.5 Mn packages per day. Firstcry also runs GlobalBees – a thrasio styled roll up company which entered unicorn club last year.  

Xpressbees currently has 100 hubs across India with over 10 lakh sq ft warehouse capacity, and operates across 52 airports in the country. 

The logistics startup competes against the likes of IPO-bound Delhivery which has already received approval from SEBI. Delhivery is heading for an INR 7,640 Cr IPO with fresh issue shares of INR 5,000 Cr. 

Another logistics major Ecom Express is also heading for an IPO. Inc42 last week exclusively reported that the startup is heading for an INR 4,860 Cr IPO. Its offer include fresh issue of shares worth INR 2,160 Cr and offer-for-sale worth INR 2,700 Cr. 

With Xpressbees entry into the unicorn club, India now has four logistics unicorns including Delhivery, Rivigo and BlackBuck.

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