Shiprocket Raises $41.3 Mn In Series D1 Funding The brand aims to leverage these funds to fuel product development for both existing and new products, to invest in research and development, continue market expansion, and accelerate overall growth

Delhi-based e-commerce fulfillment platform Shiprocket enables fast and cost-effective shipping for D2C retailers, on Thursday, announced to have raised $41.3 million in Series D1 funding. The round was co-led by PayPal Ventures, the corporate VC arm of PayPal, Info Edge Ventures, an investment fund backed by publicly listed Info Edge and Temasek Holdings, along with existing investor Bertelsmann India Investments. Besides, other existing investors March Capital, and Tribe Capital also took part in the round. The funding round also saw participation from strategic partners, such as Razorpay and Innoven Capital, and successful entrepreneurs including Cred founder Kunal Shah and Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal.

"Shiprocket's mission, ever since its inception, has been to help merchants focus on what they do best and ease their burden by taking on the heavy lifting of supply chain automation. D2C commerce forms roughly 15 per cent of the overall e-commerce market in India; this is projected to grow to 30-35 per cent in the next 5 years. Shiprocket is democratizing best-in-class experiences for hundreds of thousands of e-commerce brands that are shipping millions of items per month through our platform today. We are thrilled with the abundant potential and opportunities available for technology enablers like us in this vast, untapped market. The future lies in enabling the entire stack of solutions for the post-purchase leg for D2C e-commerce transactions. We also wish to extend a very warm welcome to PayPal Ventures and Info Edge Ventures and thank them for joining us on this journey along with our existing investors," said Saahil Goel, chief executive officer, and co-founder, Shiprocket.

The latest infusion of capital brings Shiprocket's total funding to $94.3 million. The investment will help Shiprocket further accelerate its mission to democratize eCommerce fulfillment for the fast-growing universe of D2C retailers. Shiprocket will deploy the freshly infused capital towards aggressive core product expansion and R&D, talent acquisition, as well as, into adjacent product development that can help retailers enhance the post-order consumer experience. A part of the funds will also be directed towards the platform's new strategic initiatives, including global expansion starting with the Middle East.

"Shiprocket has excelled by focusing on building products that solve major logistical problems for businesses as they scale, much like PayPal has supported merchants with payments. We're thrilled to join Shiprocket as an investor and support the development of its tools that will continue to shape the dynamic commerce ecosystem in India for years to come," stated Marc Donnadieu, director, PayPal Ventures.

Providing the merchants on its platform all-encompassing post-order experience management, Shiprocket's offerings include using machine learning algorithms to accurately predict delivery dates, helping merchants seamlessly choose across various courier partners, reducing RTO fraud, printing labels, and proactively share tracking updates with buyers. Shiprocket envisions the creation of a platform that helps merchants scale their D2C business, gain buyer trust, improve conversion, and offer next-day delivery options without having to use marketplaces for the same. The company also aims to provide the entire backend infrastructure of a large marketplace on its platform for retailers of any size.

"We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Shiprocket which is strengthening India's D2C's supply chain. The company has built very deep technology and AI products which could take the user experience, on the merchant as well as end-user side, to the next level and drive India's supply chain and logistics growth. We look forward to having like-minded partners like Info Edge and PayPal join our cap-table and support Shiprocket in its mission," noted Pankaj Makkar, managing director, Bertelsmann India Investments.

Launched in 2017, Shiprocket became profitable in FY 18-19 is on track to close this FY at $100 million in ARR. Shiprocket currently processes more than 5 million monthly shipments, enabling more than 100,000 sellers to sell directly to their consumers across India. Shiprocket previously raised $53 million in funding from Bertelsmann India Investments, Tribe Capital, March Capital, Nirvana Venture Partners, and Beenext; these investors continue to back Shiprocket today.

"Over 100,000 online sellers in India use Shiprocket today to streamline their post-checkout process, starting from logistics to warehousing to COD management. On a macro level, we believe the trend of businesses becoming omnichannel and resellers starting their independent businesses is here to stay. The goal is that as Shiprocket expands its capabilities and tools for sellers, anyone with a product to sell should be able to avail of Shiprocket's suite of products and services at one click to get their business off-the-ground with an Amazon-like one-day delivery experience. The Shiprocket team has an incredible combination of strategic thinking with execution depth and capital efficiency. We are very excited to partner with them as they enter their next phase of growth and further ease operations and financing for their sellers," added Kitty Agarwal, partner, Info Edge Ventures.

The Series D1 financing caps an exceptional year for Shiprocket where it saw rapid business growth, key executive appointments, and numerous product launches. Partnering with over 17 logistics providers, Shiprocket's tech-enabled logistics platform connects merchants, consumers, and supply chain partners across 29,000 pin codes PAN India and over 220 countries and territories globally to create delightful shipping experiences, the company shared in a statement.