Shiprocket in talks with potential partners in Middle East and Southeast Asia for global expansion
Shiprocket, an Indian tech-enabled logistics aggregator for direct-to-consumer (D2C) sellers, has raised USD$13 million in a Series C funding round led by Silicon Valley-based Tribe Capital, the company announced on Monday.
The company raised debt funding from Innoven Capital, while existing investor Bertelsmann India Investments also participated in the current round of financing, according to the statement.
With the latest raise, Shiprocket’s total funding now stands at $26 million. The startup had previously raised US$13 million in funding from Bertelsmann, Nirvana Venture Partners, Beenext, and 500 Startups.
Early angels who backed the company include Jatin Aneja and 5ideas/Superfuel run by Gaurav Kachru and Pearl Uppal. The latest round gave Shiprocket’s angel investors who exited in this round nearly 30X returns in five years, according to the statement.
The new capital will be used for product development, including acquisition of talent across the data science and engineering domains, the company said.
“The company aims to expand into global markets sometime over the next 12-18 months, so right now we are actively speaking with potential partners in the Middle East and South East Asia as part of the discovery process. We will have a roadmap in 6-8 months,” Shiprocket CEO and Co-founder Saahil Goel told Jumpstart.
As part of the agreement, Co-founder and Partner at Tribe Capital, Arjun Sethi will join Shiprocket’s Board of Directors.
Launched by Bigfoot Retail Solutions in 2017, Shiprocket has partnered with over 17 logistics providers, and its platform connects merchants, consumers and supply chain partners across 26000 pin codes across India and more than 220 countries and territories globally, according to the statement.
Shiprocket says they became profitable in FY 2018-19 with an annualized revenue run rate between $25-$30 million. The startup claims to process more than 2 million monthly shipments, and enables over 35,000 sellers to sell directly to their consumers across India.
“As a truly disruptive platform, Shiprocket has offered numerous SMEs a cost-effective and world-class solution for e-commerce shipping,” Goel said.
“We invested in Shiprocket because they empower the small to medium businesses that truly represent the heart and soul of any emerging economy. Today, the SME segment lacks capital finance and credit, infrastructure, technology, and marketing strategies. Shiprocket has enabled these businesses to grow at a time of emerging competition enabled by mobile internet and corporations,” Sethi added.
Header Image Courtesy of Shiprocket
