Shadowfax, one of the largest logistics service providers for hyper-local and on-demand delivery companies in India, has raised $100 million in a new funding round as it registered a year-on-year growth of 35%.
TPG NewQuest led Shadowfax's Series E funding round, which includes some secondary transactions, the startup said Tuesday. TechCrunch reported last year that TPG NewQuest was evaluating an investment in Shadowfax.
Existing backers, including e-commerce giant Flipkart, Mirae Asset Venture Investments, IFC, Nokia Growth Partners, Qualcomm, Eight Roads Ventures and Trifecta Capital also participated in the new funding, the startup said.
Shadowfax addresses the country's highly fragmented last-mile delivery infrastructure. Consumer delivery networks in India are often inefficient and face complex urban environments and inconsistent service quality. This leads to delays, high costs, and frustration, especially for small businesses that don't have sophisticated delivery capabilities.
The Bengaluru-headquartered startup is trying to simplify logistics operations by unifying disparate elements of India's last-mile ecosystem.
Today, the Shadowfax network reaches over 2,500 cities and over 15,000 zip codes. Shadowfax says it delivers more than 2 million packages daily and has amassed more than 3.5 million registered users.
“As a third-party logistics enterprise, we have gained tremendous market share over the last 24 months. We have done so while maintaining profitability,” Abhishek Bansal, co-founder and CEO of Shadowfax, told TechCrunch in an interview.
Shadowfax operates a logistics and delivery network of over 125,000 monthly active couriers, and works with multiple companies including Flipkart, Meesho and several direct-to-consumer brands. Bansal said the startup has not lost a single customer in five years.
Bansal attributed this growth to the wider adoption of rapid trade in India, which helped the startup grow at a rate of 35%, he said.
“We also have a very local arm that has a significant exposure to express trade companies. We work with all express trade companies and any brand that needs same day or next day delivery,” he added.
Founded in 2015, Shadowfax has raised over $220 million in primary and secondary transactions.
In a statement, Amit Gupta, partner and head of India and Southeast Asia at TPG NewQuest, said Shadowfax is working to “revolutionize” the e-commerce logistics sector in India.
Shadowfax is Mirae Asset's first investment in India and the investment firm has participated in every subsequent round.
“We believe that logistics is fundamental to e-commerce and hyper-local commerce and that it enables the growth of these markets. Abhishek and Vaibhav along with their team have built a highly scalable platform,” Ashish Dev, CEO, Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India), said in a statement. They continued to provide it even during difficult periods.”
“Over the past five years, they have invested in growing the network and organization while also delivering on the right financial metrics.”
