Indian Logistics Space Hots Up With Another Logistics Start-up Raising Funds Pune-based ElasticRun raised $40 million in a fresh round of funding led by Prosus Ventures and other existing investors
By Bhavya Kaushal •
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Pune-based logistics firm ElasticRun raised $40 million in a fresh round of funding led by Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures) with participation from existing investor Avataar Ventures and Kalaari Capital. The funds will be utilized for expansion, launch of new product categories, and innovate its analytics and machine learning platforms to achieve national scale. The start-up has so far raised $55.5 million in total.
Commenting on the funding, Sandeep Deshmukh, co-founder and CEO of ElasticRun, said, "The last-mile problem is still a major issue both for logistics and consumer goods companies in India. By working with the network of small stores across the country, we solve that problem while helping the store owners grow their businesses. In addition, offering a flexible logistics extension to consumer goods companies to directly reach these small retail shops is a huge advantage over traditional distribution networks."
This funding has come at a crucial juncture when other operators in the market such as Rivigo, Blackbuck, Delhivery and Locus, among others, have been scaling great business growth. There are also other players in the logistics market such as Freightwalla, Freight Tiger, FarEye, Shadowfax, among others, that have also carved a niche in the logistics market.
ElasticRun was launched in 2014 by Sandeep Deshmukh, Shitiz Bansal and Saurabh Nigam, alumni of IIM-Ahmedabad, IIT-Varanasi (BHU) and Delhi College of Engineering, respectively. The platform caters to various sectors including fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), food, manufacturing and e-commerce.
Indian Logistics Space
Logistics, initially, was one aspect of management. Today, it has become a disruptive field that is providing cutting-edge technology and solutions to the B2C and B2B sector. The growing need to streamline operations and supply-chain management has also brought the logistics platforms into the spotlight.
Investors have been leading funding rounds in the Indian logistics start-ups. For instance, Japanese investor SoftBank has backed Delhivery, SAIF Partners and Warburg Pincus have repeatedly invested in Rivigo, Tiger Global Management and LightSpeed Ventures recently closed a round of funding in Freight Tiger.
