Tiger Global-backed Zinka Logistics Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates business-to-business logistics startup BlackBuck, has raised Rs 50 crore ($7.69 million) from InnoVen Capital, the venture debt arm of the Singapore Government’s sovereign fund, Temasek.
The two-year-old startup secured the funds through a hypothecation deed dated September 18 this year, filings with the Registrar of Companies show.
Rajesh Yabaji and Chanakya Hridaya, Blackbuck’s co-founders, did not respond to e-mail queries from VCCircle, seeking comment.
The development was first reported by Mint.
The company will use the funds to diversify its services and to grow the organisation, Yabaji was quoted as telling Mint.
Previous filings revealed that the company had secured similar loans and working capital credit facilities from financial institutions and banks that include Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 30 crore in July), Hero Fincorp Ltd (Rs 25 crore in April), Janalakshmi Financial Services Ltd (Rs 37 crore in March), Clix Capital Services Ltd (Rs 25 crore in March), State Bank of India (Rs 50 crore in December 2016).
In March this year, Blackbuck raised $70 million (Rs 476 crore) in a Series C funding round led by Sands Capital, International Finance Corporation along with existing investors Accel Partners and Flipkart.
BlackBuck was founded in April 2015 by IIT Kharagpur alumni Yabaji, Hridaya and Ramasubramaniam B. The company focuses on B2B logistics solutions for long-haul trucking. Its technology platform brings together shippers and truckers through its online marketplace to book freight for inter-city transportation.
The company operates on an asset-light business model. It matches truckers with shippers through its online platform and minimises downtime for trucks and maximises the utility of the asset for the truck operator. The company also provides support in using ancillary services such as toll cards and fuel cards to drivers with partners like non-banking finance companies and fuel retailers so that truck drivers do not need to carry a lot of cash.
The company, which offers its services in over 300 locations across the country, claims to have over one lakh trucks on its platform. It counts Asian Paints, Unilever, Coke, Britannia, Godrej, Marico, Jyothy Laboratories, and EID Parry as its customers.
InnoVen has actively been making investments of late. Last month, it put in an undisclosed sum into e-commerce enabler Ace Turtle and invested Rs 100 crore ($15.4 million) into Nasdaq-listed Yatra Online, Inc., which runs travel portal Yatra.com.
