Money raised will be utilised to make the co a full-service logistics player.
End-to end logistics player XpressBees on Wednesday said it had raised $300 million in funding from Blackstone, TPG Growth and ChrysCapital, at a valuation of $1.2 billion, making it a unicorn. The $300-million fund-raise comprises a primary issue of $100 million and a secondary issue of $200 million. Early investor Alibaba and CDH, an alternative asset management firm based in China, have made partial exits.
In all, the company has raised more than $500 million so far and is considering an IPO in the next 18-24 months, Amitava Saha, founder and CEO of XpressBees, said.
The Series F funding round also saw participation from existing investors Investcorp and Norwest Venture Partners. Founded by Amitava Saha and Supam Maheshwari, XpressBees was spun off as a separate entity from FirstCry, an omnichannel retailer of baby and mother care products.
The funds will be utilised to make XpressBees a full-service logistics organisation; the company will make forays into warheousing, and expand the B2B logistics business. The warehousing business would be asset light, Saha said, adding that the growth plans include B2B, warehousing, 3PL and cross-border operations.
XpressBees is also eyeing the high-growth hyperlocal delivery segment. Saha sees synergies with investor Blackstone, the largest owner of warehousing and logistics space in India with over 35.5 million sqft in metro cities.
XpressBees is now the second-largest logistics player in terms of number of parcels delivered, having grown at more than twice the market rate. The company is growing at 70% plus this year and will end with revenues of Rs 1,800 crore, Saha said.
Given the fact that high diesel prices have pushed up logistics costs, the company is looking at running trucks on CNG for the long hauls. However, the limited availability of CNG is a challenge, he said. For the short hauls within the city, the company is moving to electric vehicles.
Mukesh Mehta, senior managing director of Blackstone Private Equity, said he looked forward to leveraging Blackstone’s deep expertise and global network in logistics and ecommerce to accelerate XpressBees’s growth.
Akshay Tanna, partner at TPG Growth, said XpressBees had developed a differentiated, highly scalable, and asset-light operating model that is fully integrated through a customisable tech platform.
Founded in 2015, XpressBees is currently present across 3,000 cities, serving over 20,000 pin codes and delivering over 1.5 million packages per day. The company now has over 100 hubs across India, 10 lakh sqft plus warehouse capacity, and operates across 52 airports in the country.
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