Shiprocket, an ecommerce shipping and enablement platform, has signed definitive agreements to raise $185 million (Rs 1380 crore) as part of its Series E funding round co-led led by Zomato Ltd, Temasek Holdings and Lightrock India.
New investors, Moore Strategic Ventures and 9unicorns, are also participating in this funding round, Shiprocket said in a statement. Existing investors, InfoEdge Ventures and March Capital, are also contributing to this investment round, it added.
Prominent individual investors including Brijesh Agrawal (IndiaMART), Peyush Bansal (Lenskart), Sanil Sachar (Huddle Ventures), Varun Alagh (Mamaearth), Sameer Mehta and Aman Gupta (Boat Electronics) and Ashish Gupta (Helion Ventures) are also pooling in capital as part of this funding round.
Shiprocket, operated by BigFoot Retail Solutions Pvt Ltd, plans to use the fresh capital for developing a comprehensive suite of products, research and development and hiring. Part of the funds will also be deployed for global expansion and offering hyperlocal deliveries with low turnaround times, the company said.
Saahil Goel, CEO and Co-founder, Shiprocket, said the company is on track to launch its hyperlocal delivery options which will guarantee low turnaround times. He added the company entered the international market last month by launching its services in Saudi Arabia. The startup also plans to "actively" explore mergers and acquisitions (M&As) for growth.
Launched in 2017 by Gautam Kapoor, Saahil Goel and Vishesh Khurana, the Delhi based startup's platform powers shipping and fulfillment for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), direct-to-consumer (D2C) retailers, and social commerce sellers across multiple categories. Its shipping solutions are present across more than 29,000 pin codes within India and 220 countries across the world.
The startup also serves as a cash on delivery gateway. Shiprocket claims it delivers packets to more than 66 million consumers annually and is growing 3x year-on-year. The company added that it doubled its annual recurring revenue (ARR) over the last six months.
Shiprocket's net sales more than doubled to Rs 161 crore in fiscal 2019-20 from Rs 58.8 crore in 2018-19, according to VCCEdge the data and research platform of VCCircle. It had also posted a net profit of Rs 10 crore during the period against a net loss of Rs 8.56 crore.
Deepinder Goyal, CEO and Co-founder, Zomato, 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". Zomato had announced its investment in Shiprocket last month along with its investment in two other startups Curefit and magicpin.
Shiprocket's latest funding is its third transaction this year. In July, the company raised $41.3 million (Rs 305 crore) as part of its Series D1 funding round. The funding was co-led by Paypal's corporate venture capital arm PayPal Ventures, Info Edge Ventures along with existing investor Bertelsmann.
In February, Shiprocket raised $27 million (Rs 200 crore) in an extended Series C round of funding co-led by returning investor Tribe Capital and new backer March Capital.
Avendus Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Shiprocket on the latest transaction.
