[Funding Alert] This Logistics and Supply Chain Management Start-Up Raised INR 64 Crore The round also saw the participation of German conglomerate Siemens' investment arm Next47 and existing investor Nexus Venture Partners.
By Debroop Roy
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Logistics and supply chain management start-up Pando has raised INR 64 crore in a Series A round led by Chiratae Ventures, the company said on Monday. The round also saw the participation of German conglomerate Siemens' investment arm Next47 and existing investor Nexus Venture Partners.
Founded in 2017, Pando helps companies automate and optimize freight management, while also connecting them to logistics vendors and aggregators. Its client list includes the likes of Britannia, Marico and Philips.
The Indian logistics space has seen massive traction in the last few years, as there has been an increased push for digitization post the e-commerce boom. Largely unorganized, start-ups have come up with different solutions in an aim to make it more organized and cash in on the massive opportunities that lie beneath. From Delhivery to Blackbuck to Rivigo, the list of start-ups disrupting the space has only been getting longer.
"Global Logistics is going through a disruption, and large enterprises require a platform that can help them leverage these market changes to scale faster," said TC Meenakshisundaram, founder and managing director at Chiratae.
Digitizing Deliveries
The idea behind Pando was to digitize a space that largely operated with very little operation throughout the supply chain.
Chennai-based Pando's platform allows companies to control their fragmented logistics network via an easy interface and standardized workflow management.
"We are building the world's first open-market, freight management platform and in turn, creating an economic network of delivery stakeholders; potentially, the largest such network that the country has ever seen," reads the company's website.
Funds For Expansion
"This investment allows us to continue to reimagine the way freight networks operate," said Nitin Jayakrishnan, Pando's co-founder & chief executive officer.
Jayakrishnan said the company would continue to deepen its network offering in India, scale in certain international markets and invest in technology and talent.
For Next47, this is the first direct investment in an Indian start-up. "The global logistics market is ripe for change," said Lak Ananth, managing director at Next47, adding, "India is a huge market with unique infrastructure challenges; this represents a promising opportunity for local startups."
With this round of funding, the company has so far raised INR 80 crore, which includes a previous seed round led by Nexus.
"Pando is competing with and winning against global giants in the enterprise freight management market.... we were fortunate to partner early with Nitin and Abhijeet in their journey and welcome our new partners on this new phase of the company's growth," said Nexus' founder and managing director Sandeep Singhal.
