Gurgaon-based logistics services provider Rivigo Services Pvt Ltd has appointed former Microsoft executive Pramod Gupta as its chief financial officer, a person privy to the development told VCCircle.
Gupta’s was appointed in the last 3-4 months, the person mentioned above said. It is not clear whether this is Rivigo’s first appointment or replacement for an incumbent. Gupta’s LinkedIn profile shows that he took on his new role in July this year.
Deepak Garg and Gazal Kalra, Rivigo’s co-founders, did not respond to e-mail queries from VCCircle, seeking more information.
A Xavier’s College commerce graduate and a chartered accountant by professional qualification, Gupta has nearly 29 years of work experience in finance. He started his career with a nearly 12-year stint at FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever, where he was part of the fertilizers business vertical.
In his last assignment prior to joining Rivigo, he worked for over three years at Microsoft India as the finance director. In between, he worked in the consumer health division of pharmaceuticals company Novartis, logistics company DHL, and North America-based consumer food brand, Conagra.
Gupta’s appointment comes at a time when Rivigo is looking to scale up and expand at a significant pace, racing towards the private unicorn club. In August this year, media reports stated that it was in talks with Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank for a $100-400 million funding round that is likely to value it at over $1 billion.
Founded in 2014 by Garg and Kalra, Rivigo provides logistics services solutions, including full truck-load, part truck-load, and cold chains, catering to industry sectors that include e-commerce, consumer goods, automotive, retail and pharmaceuticals.
It claims to have reduced the transit time in India by 50-70% compared to operators in the unorganised trucking business. It owns and operates over 2,000 trucks and has a pan-India network across 150 locations.
Garg is an IIT-Kanpur and IIM-Lucknow alumnus, while Kalra is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard University. Both are former McKinsey executives.
Rivigo is one of the most heavily funded Indian logistics startups, having raised a little over $122 million till date, according to VCCEdge, the data and financial research platform of VCCircle.
Myntra and Curefit co-founder Mukesh Bansal is a director on the company's board.
In November 2016, private equity firm Warburg Pincus had invested $75 million for a minority stake in the company as part of a Series C round. Rivigo was valued at about $440 million during the funding round.
In December 2015, the company had raised $30 million, including a small debt finance portion, in Series B funding from existing investor SAIF Partners and others.
The company’s rival in the logistics segment Delhivery Pvt. Ltd had raised Rs 200 crore from China’s Fosun International as part of a larger funding round in May this year. Earlier this month, VCCircle had also reported that following the investment, Fosun Capital’s chairman William Tang had joined the board of the Gurgaon-based e-commerce logistics.
Another competitor, BlackBuck, operated by Zinka Logistics Solutions Pvt. Ltd, raised Rs 50 crore ($7.69 million) from InnoVen Capital earlier this month and raised $70 million in a Series C funding round and counts Tiger Global as one of its investors in March this year.
On Monday, VCCircle had reported that Flipkart founder and group chief executive Binny Bansal joined its board of directors. Flipkart is an investor in the logistics company.
