PayPal, InfoEdge Lead $41-Million Funding In Shiprocket

Shiprocket has raised $41.3 million in a fresh funding round, led by PayPal Ventures and InfoEdge Ventures, as the logistics services aggregator aims to expand operations in India and beyond.

Existing investors Bertelsmann India Investments, March Capital, and Tribe Capital also participated in the fundraising, besides strategic partners such as Razorpay and Innoven Capital, and entrepreneurs including Cred founder Kunal Shah and Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal, the New Delhi-based startup said in a statement.

The latest infusion takes the total fundraise by the logistics aggregator—that works like an Amazon for delivery firms—to about $94.3 million.

The startup said it aims to deploy the fresh capital towards aggressive core product expansion and research and development. A part of the investment will also go towards talent acquisition, product development and global expansion starting with the Middle East.

Direct-to-consumer marketing, or a manufacturer selling products directly to customers, forms roughly 15% of the overall e-commerce market in India, and is projected to grow to 30-35% in the next five years, Saahil Goel, chief executive officer and co-founder of Shiprocket, was quoted as saying in the statement. The firm, he said, aims to democratise experiences for several e-commerce brands that are shipping millions of items per month through its platform today.

According to Marc Donnadieu, director at PayPal Ventures, Shiprocket has focused on building products that solve major logistical problems for businesses as they scale, much like PayPal has supported merchants with payments.

Shiprocket said it has more than 1 lakh online sellers in India that use its platform to streamline their post-checkout process, starting from logistics to warehousing to cash-on-delivery management.

“The goal is that as Shiprocket expands its capabilities and tools for sellers, anyone with a product to sell should be able to avail of Shiprocket’s suite of products and services at one click to get their business off-the-ground with an Amazon-like one-day delivery experience,” Kitty Agarwal, partner at Info Edge Ventures, said.