This round of financing led by Flipkart
Wal-Mart owned Flipkart has participated in financing $60 million in an Indian startup Shadowfax. The investment will reinforce the logistic support network in the country. The Series D financing was led by Flipkart in the company originated out of Bangalore. This round of investment saw participation from Eight Roads Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Mirae Asset-Naver Fund, and IFC. By adding this round of investment the amount that is raised by the company is around $100 million.
With this, the company is now valued at $250 million. Company sources told the press that Flipkart itself invested $30 million in this round of financing. But officially the company did not reveal how much did each company has invested in the Series D round of financing.
The money will be used to strengthen the logistic infrastructure
Shadowfax has a business-to-business logistics network in over 300 cities across the country. The company works with local stores and use their facilities to stock up the inventory. It also has a huge structure of freelancers to deliver the orders.
Abhishek Bansal, Co-founder, and Chief Executive said, “Anyone with a bicycle or a bike or a truck can join our platform and deliver items for us. The startup, which also has set up its own warehouses and fulfillment hubs, currently processes more than 10 million deliveries a month. So we have not built any assets on the ground. We are essentially bringing the inefficiency of the market on to the platform and catering large enterprises.”
The categories such as fast food, grocery, fashion, and e-commerce are managed by the company’s logistics network. And it’s a very reliable network, where every local store is providing services within a kilometer only.
