Rivigo Services Pvt. Ltd has raised $65 million (Rs 444.66 crore at current exchange rates) in its ongoing Series E funding round that was led by existing investors Warburg Pincus and SAIF Partners, the logistics-technology startup said in a statement.
The startup said it will use the fresh funding to strengthen its technological infrastructure and network coverage. It also aims to become profitable by the end of the current financial year.
The company, which is also backed by venture debt provider Trifecta Capital, operates with a ‘relay trucking’ model, wherein truck drivers do not operate their vehicles for more than five hours at a stretch and reach back to their home same day.
"With technology and freight marketplace, we now want to bring relay to every truck in the country," Rivigo founder Deepak Garg said.
The $65 million includes the amount the company mopped up in February. At the time, Rivigo had secured around $35.6 million by issuing compulsory convertible preference shares to private equity firm Warburg and multi-stage investor SAIF, according to filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
The fresh capital helps Rivigo inch closer to entering the unicorn club of startups with a valuation of at least $1 billion. Last year, VCCircle reported that the startup’s valuation rose to over $900 million after it raised around $50 million in its Series D funding round. SAIF and Warburg had participated in that round.
In April 2015, SAIF Partners had pumped in $9.6 million in Rivigo in its Series A round. In December 2015, Rivigo mobilised $30 million in its Series B round.
Founded in 2014 by Deepak Garg and Gazal Kalra, Rivigo offers pan-India delivery services to e-commerce, pharma, automobiles, cold-chain and FMCG players. Garg is an IIT Kanpur alumnus who was working with McKinsey & Company before co-founding the venture. Kalra, a Stanford Graduate School of Business alumnus, also worked at McKinsey.
Logistics-tech deals
Investor interest in the logistics-technology segment has increased in recent months as startups seek to provide new-age services at scale and affordable prices. Apart from Rivigo, a number of logistics-tech ventures have raised a large amount of capital. This include SoftBank- and Carlyle-backed Delhivery, Warburg-backed Ecom Express and Goldman Sachs-backed BlackBuck.
Earlier this week, Singapore-based logistics-technology platform Ezyhaul raised $16 million in its Series B funding round.
Also, earlier this month, logistics platform Freight Tiger said it had raised $8 million in a funding round led by existing investor Lightspeed Venture Partners. Alsthom Industries Ltd, which is a cement grinding unit of Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd, and the Pawan Munjal Family Trust also participated in the round.
Likewise, internet of things-based Intugine Technologies Pvt. Ltd raised capital from Inflection Point Ventures. In May, logistics management startup Locus raised $22 million (around Rs 196 crore) in its Series B funding round led by Falcon Edge Capital and Tiger Global Management LLC.
