Logistics unicorn Xpressbees on Tuesday said it has raised $80 million (around Rs 665 crore) from Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), the late stage investment arm of Canadian pension fund Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP).
The firm will use the fresh capital to drive further growth and support the company’s management team with their future ambitions.
“We believe the logistics sector is at the cusp of technological disruption and this is the right time to expand service offerings to address the growing needs of businesses and consumers,” said Amitava Saha, founder and chief executive officer at Xpressbees.
The fundraise comes six months after Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad poured $40 million (around Rs 320 crore) into the Pune-based startup.
OTPP, which manages $250 billion of net assets globally, has been rapidly stepping up its investments into Indian companies in the past year, joining its bigger peers in chasing growing opportunities in the South Asian country. VCCircle reported last week that the Canadian pension firm received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to invest in Xpressbees.
The latest investment is its first commitment from TVG, which focuses on late-stage venture and growth equity investments in technology companies. TVG will acquire a minority stake in Xpressbees, joining the likes of investors TPG Growth, Blackstone ChrysCapital, Khazanah Nasional Berhard, Alibaba Group, Elevation Capital, Investcorp, Norwest Venture Partners and Gaja Capital.
“Xpressbees aligns with our TVG thesis for Asia,” said Kelvin Yu, senior managing director, Teachers’ Venture Growth.
"India is a critical market for our TVG Asia strategy, where we look to lead or co-lead rounds, and Xpressbees is a culmination of one such proprietary opportunity.”
Xpressbees, founded in 2015 by Saha and Supam Maheshwari, is an end-to-end logistics company that caters to sectors such as e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, fast-moving consumer goods, retail, manufacturing, electronics and consumer durables. It claims that its network covers over 20,000 pin codes in the country.
In April 2022, Xpressbees was valued at about $1.4 billion, about 16% markup from its previous round in February 2022.
In August last year, late-stage investor Avendus Future Leaders Fund acquired a stake in Xpressbees from Elevation Capital, via a secondary transaction for Rs 195 crore.
The company entered the unicorn club in February 2022 when it bagged $300 million in a Series F funding led by Blackstone Growth, TPG Growth and ChrysCapital at $1.2 billion valuation. The company also counts Investcorp, Alibaba Group, Norwest Venture Partners and Gaja Capital among its investors.
Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor on this transaction
