Ecosystem Weekly | 21st Aug’22

I hope you had an enjoyable Raksha Bandhan followed by an inspiring 75th independence day celebration last week,

Though the total funding raised this week ( $135 Mn) was subdued by around 45% as compared to the previous week, on account of the lesser average ticket size of the deals. The highlight of the week has been the minting of a new unicorn – Shiprocket – which has raised $ 32.6 Mn at a valuation of $1 Bn.

Shiprocket, founded in 2017, is a logistics aggregator platform. This news follows a trend in the logistics industry, starting with the biggest player Delhivery acquiring unicorn status as early as 2020 and finally being listed in May 2022. Another major player in the space ExpressBee became a unicorn in Feb 2022 when it had raised $300 Mn. In another development, Amazon is in talks to acquire a majority stake in Ecom Express, to strengthen its own logistics arm, which would most likely lead to Ecom Express valuation over $1 Bn. Here is a good infographic on the logistics space.

The likely reasons for favorable investor sentiments on logistics sector are – the ecommerce space as a fraction of total commerce is still in nascent stage, the existing digital commerce has been dominated by the horizontal platforms like Amazon & flipkart, there has been an observable trend that D2C companies are aiming to increase their ecommerce share and shorten the delivery time for their brands, the ONDC may open up new avenues for smaller players in ecommerce.

All of these factors contribute to the growth of the logistics sector and Shiprocket is making the bets in accordance with it. It would be interesting to watch the developments in the coming months.

For the benefit of our new readers, I would end by sharing about one of our portfolio companies, a last mile logistics intelligence startup, which we have invested in, last year.

Startup Funding Summary

Sunstone Eduversity, a Gurgaon-based edtech platform, has raised $35 Mn in Series C funding from WestBridge Capital and Alteria Capital – Read More

Shiprocket, a Delhi-based logistics enablement platform, has raised $33 Mn in Series E2 funding from Lightrock India Fund, Temasek Holdings, Bertelsmann, Moore Strategic Ventures, March Venture Capital, Huddle Collective and Paypal – Read More

Exponent Energy, a Bangalore-based EV rapid charging startup, has raised $13 Mn in Series A funding from Lightspeed, YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital and AdvantEdge VC – Read More

Rusk Media, a Delhi-based digital entertainment company, has raised $10 Mn in Series A funding from DAOL Investment, Audacity Ventures, InfoEdge Ventures , Mistry Ventures and Survam Partners – Read More

Prolance, a Bangalore-based interior design companies, has raised $2 Mn in Pre-Series A funding from Foundamental, Axilor, Arali Ventures and Force Ventures – Read More

M&A Snippets

Bangalore-based payment solutions provider Razorpay will acquire Bangalore-based payment solutions provider Ezetap Mobile Solutions for $126Mn – Read More

Delhi-based edtech platform PhysicsWallah has acquired Agra-based edtech startup FreeCo for an undisclosed amount – Read More