Catbus Infolabs Pvt. Ltd, which operates the asset-light logistics marketplace Blowhorn, has raised funding from venture debt provider Trifecta Capital.
The Bengaluru-based company will use the funds to achieve profitability by the end of the current financial year, Blowhorn said in a statement. However, it did not disclose the amount it raised.
Blowhorn was founded in 2014 by Mithun Srivatsa and Nikhil Shivaprasad. The firm says it aims to build a leading intra-city logistics-technology company that functions as a full-stack marketplace for the sector.
Trifecta Capital managing partner Rahul Khanna said the venture debt firm was confident of its bet on Blowhorn because of its focus on intra-city logistics, capital-efficient model and ability to support a wide spectrum of customers.
“Trifecta Capital is an extremely selective capital allocator. We are delighted to work with Rahul and the entire Trifecta Capital team,” Srivatsa said.
Blowhorn, backed by the likes of Chiratae Ventures, Draper Associates and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, says it currently operates across many major Indian cities and that its platform has on boarded over 40,000 drivers. It also provides fulfillment services and application programming interface (API)-integrated delivery services.
Its last reported fundraising round took place in September, when it secured an undisclosed sum of capital from Venture Catalysts, impact investor James Lee Sorenson, and Japanese venture capital firm Dream Incubator. Chirate Ventures, and the Dell Foundation also took part in that round.
The company had raised Rs 25 crore ($3.65 million) in Series A funding from IDG Ventures India, MSDF, Draper Associates and Unitus Seed Fund in March 2017.
According to VCCEdge, the data research arm of Mosaic Digital, Blowhorn reported net sales of Rs 82.69 crore and Rs 36.03 crore for the 2019 and 2018 financial years. It also reported negative EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) figures of Rs 11.55 crore and Rs 8.41 crore for the same periods.
Trifecta Capital
The venture debt provider was set up in 2014 by Nilesh Kothari and Khanna and manages a corpus of Rs 500 crore. RBL Bank and Azim Premji Trust are the anchor investors in its first fund, from which Trifecta provides early-stage debt capital to technology companies. It also looks to acquire stakes in companies through cashless warrants or partly paid-up shares.
The venture firm has invested in over 40 companies, including NoBroker, Bigbasket, Paper Boat, Rivigo, Nephroplus, Urban Ladder, Industrybuying, OneAssist, UrbanClap, and IdeaForge.
Early this year, it put Rs 25 crore in Gurugram-based tech-enabled logistics services provider Rivigo Services Pvt. Ltd.
This was the second logistics-technology firm that Trifecta has reportedly issued funding. In November, the Gurugram-based venture firm committed Rs 56 crore (around $7.83 million) in mixed equity and debt funding to Blackbuck.
