Bangalore-based on-demand business-to-business logistics startup ShadowFax Technologies Pvt. Ltd has agreed to acquire the assets of Nuvo Logistics Pvt Ltd, which operates e-commerce-focussed reverse logistics platform Nuvo Ex.
The operational integration of both the businesses has started and the deal is on the verge of closure, Shadowfax said in a blog post. The integration will be completed within six months.
Nuvo Ex previously operated online grocery venture PepperTap, which shut shop in April last year and pivoted to its current form. The company has raised $46 million in total from Sequoia India, SAIF Partners, Ru-Net, Beenext, JAFCO Asia and Snapdeal.
The deal will help Shadowfax expand operations to over 75 cities. It will have a combined network of over 7,000 delivery personnel and 400 minivans. This will likely help the company fulfill 90,000 transactions daily. Nuvo will exist as a brand under ShadowFax’s Reverse Logistics business but not as a separate entity.
A spokesperson for Shadowfax said in an e-mailed response that the merger will also help the company expand operations to 1,800 pin code areas from 700 currently.
“With NuvoEx’s strength in reverse logistics and store delivery network, Shadowfax is well poised to grow to the next level in the overall logistics market,†Navneet Singh, co-founder and CEO of NuvoEx, said in the blog post.
Singh will not be part of the combined entity but co-founder Milind Sharma will join Shadowfax.
This is not the first time Shadowfax has struck an acquisition as part of its growth strategy. In November 2015, it had acqui-hired Gurgaon-based reverse e-commerce logistics startup Pickingo Logixpress Pvt. Ltd.
The spokesperson said that the company is focussed on growing organically but is open to the idea of acquisitions if there are opportunities to acquire capabilities and build greater synergy.
Founded in May 2015 by Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal, Shadowfax provides intra-city logistics services to neighbourhood merchants, grocery shops, pharmacies and e-commerce clients. It was set up as a food-only delivery player but has diversified across multiple verticals. It claims to complete more than 30,000 deliveries a day in 10 cities.
Nuvo Logistics was founded in November 2014. At the peak of its earlier avatar as PepperTap, it had operated in 18 cities across India, competing against BigBasket and Grofers. Currently, the company clocks over 30,000 transactions daily across its reverse logistics network in over 75 cities.
*This article has been updated to include additional details of the deal and comments from Shadowfax.