A Series E funding round has concluded with a definitive agreement to raise $185 million, or 1,380 crore, for the leading e-commerce shipping platform, Shiprocket. This round is co-managed by Lightrock India, Temasek and Zomato Ltd. New investors, Moore Strategic Ventures and 9 unicorns, are also participating in this round, along with existing investors InfoEdge Ventures and March Capital. The total fund was raised to $280 million, as a result of the third round of funding in 2021 by Shiprocket.
Some of the leading entrepreneurs in this round include Brijesh Agrawal IndiaMART Peyush Bansal Lenskart Sanil Sachar Huddle Ventures Varun Alagh Mamaearth Sameer Mehta Aman Gupta Boat Electronics and Ashish Gupta Helion Ventures Avendus Capital as the exclusive financial advisor to Shiprocket on this transaction.
Shiprocket was founded in 2017 and has doubled its annual revenue run ARR over the last 6 months, making it the fastest company to become profitable in 24 months. Shiprocket s technology powers shipping and fulfillment for SMEs, D 2 C retailers and social commerce sellers in India, across multiple categories, including BPC, apparel, footwear, electronics and healthcare, among others, as per an official handout.
Shiprocket said it would speed up its mission to democratise e-commerce fulfillment for the fast-growing universe of D 2 C retailers by using the latest fundraise. Shiprocket will invest the capital into aggressive core product expansion, research development, talent acquisition and development of a comprehensive suite of products that will help retailers deliver a seamless, high-quality post-order customer experience in line with that of large e-commerce platforms.
A portion of the funds will be allocated to the platform's new strategic initiatives including i hyperlocal delivery services with low turnaround times TATs, as well as its extensive courier partnerships and growing fulfillment network and ii global expansion starting with the Middle East. Shiprocket will look for opportunities for inorganic expansion via M&A to expand its stack in its attempt to be a one-stop solution.
We are excited about the huge opportunity that lies in post-purchase technology enablement in the D 2 C e-commerce space. Saahil Goel, CEO and Co-founder of Shiprocket, said the fundraise is a validation of the hard work put in by the entire Shiprocket team over the last 4 years.
He said that as the market leader in aggregated shipments for the SME and D 2 C market selling online, we aim to set the benchmark for the post purchase experience, while delivering significant value to all stakeholders. We are on track to launch hyperlocal delivery options that guarantee low TAT and best in class SLAs, further cementing our position as the preferred shipping and enablement partner. We have taken the first step towards expanding our footprint in new geographies after the launch of our services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in November 2021. The logistics startup currently has more than 17 courier partners on board, enabling pan-India as well as international shipping deliveries. Its shipping solutions are available across 29,000 pin codes within India and 220 countries across the world.
Deepinder Goyal, CEO and Co-founder, Zomato Ltd said Shiprocket plugs a big hole in the e-commerce space by offering customers of direct-to- consumer brands a seamless post checkout experience, including delivery. Vaidhehi Ravindran, Partner, Lightrocket said, We are thrilled to partner with the team at Shiprocket as they build the logistics and fulfillment operating system that will power the growth of the e-commerce and D 2 C markets. We believe that this is the key piece in the transformation of the largest, youngest, fastest-growing and most diverse consumer market in the world.