Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd, which runs online e-com marketplace Snapdeal, has bought a minority stake in logistics firm QuickDel Logistics Pvt Ltd, which runs operations under the GoJavas brand, a Snapdeal spokesperson said without sharing further details. GoJavas was previously a part of Jabong, a lifestyle e-tailer incubated by Rocket Internet.
Previously, a Mint report, citing documents filed with the Registrar of Companies, said that Snapdeal has picked 20 per cent stake for Rs 120 crore, which values GoJavas just under $100 million.
A Snapdeal spokesperson said: “Supply chain is the backbone of e-commerce and for e-commerce companies to be successful it is important to develop this ecosystem. We have entered into a partnership with GoJavas to strengthen our supply chain infrastructure. This is a minority investment by Snapdeal.â€
This marks the second such investment by Snapdeal after it picked a minority stake in Smartprix.
While Snapdeal founders have been investing small sums in startups in their individual capacity, the firm itself has been largely doing acquisitions.
The Delhi-based company has, to date, acquired five companies: social product-discovery technology platform Doozton; gifting recommendation technology platform Wishpicker.com; group buying site Grabbon.com; online sports goods retailer eSportsBuy.com and online marketplace for handicrafts Shopo.in.
GoJavas comes as a strategic enabler for its core e-commerce business. However, it also works with other e-commerce ventures like HealthKart, Jabong, Yepme and Lenskart, almost all of these directly or indirectly competes with Snapdeal.
Indeed, GoJavas is more strategically linked to Jabong, originally starting as an in-house delivery venture of the Rocket Internet-backed lifestyle e-tailer but later spun out as a separate third-party logistics firm.
GoJavas covers over 2,500 PIN codes in the country in terms of last mile delivery presence.
This gives it a strategic partnership given that it doesn't have a captive delivery arm and relies on third-party logistics.
Snapdeal, which counts SoftBank, eBay, Temasek, Myriad, Tybourne, Blackrock, PremjiInvest, Kalaari and Nexus among its investors, recently also roped in Tata Sons' chairman emeritus Ratan Tata as a small private investor. It has been flush with funds and looking at several investment and acquisition opportunities.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)