Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) said on Monday it has invested $115 million (approximately Rs 825 crore at current exchange rates) in Indian logistics company Delhivery Pvt. Ltd.
CPPIB made the investment through its Fundamental Equities Asia Group, which backs quality Asian companies for the long term, it said in a statement.As part of the investment, CPPIB will have one seat on Delhivery’s board, it added.
“The continued strong growth of e-commerce has generated significant opportunities in India’s express logistics space for long-term investors such as CPPIB,” said Deborah Orida, senior managing director and global head of active equities.
The investment in Delhivery will also help the Canadian pension fund’s Fundamental Equities Asia Group vehicle’s strategy of providing capital to “high-quality companies” in the region, Orida added.
Separately, Sahil Barua, founder and chief executive officer at Delhivery, said CPPIB’s investment also coincided with the 500 million shipment milestone for the company. The startup’s long-term ambition is to become the “operating system’ for commerce in the country.
The announcement of the funding comes about three-and-a-half months after VCCircle reported that CPPIB was planning to invest Rs 800-900 crore in Delhivery.
Delhivery was founded in 2011 by Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, Suraj Saharan, Kapil Bharti and Bhavesh Manglani. It earlier operated as SSN Logistics Pvt. Ltd, providing local on-demand services and then grew to a full-fledged logistics player. It has raised funding from several PE investors including Multiples Private Equity, Carlyle Asia Partners, Tiger Global Management and Nexus Ventures.
In May last year, VCCircle reported that the firm was looking to go public and had asked investment banks to pitch for the mandate to run the share sale.
However, in September, it was reported that the Gurugram-based Delhivery pushed its plan for an initial public offering to this year and was instead looking to mobilise capital from private investment firms.
Then, in March this year, the company said it raised $413 million (Rs 2,890 crore) in a funding round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund. Carlyle and China’s Fosun International also participated in that round. SoftBank had earlier sought approval from the Competition Commission of India for investing in Delhivery.
