Ecommerce shipping and enablement firm Shiprocket on Friday said it has acquired business-to-business aggregator platform Rocketbox for an undisclosed sum, the company said in a statement.
The Rocketbox founders will join the Shiprocket leadership team, and continue to build the cargo product as part of this deal.
Shiprocket aims to build synergies between two companies, and complement each other to address the pain points and technical complexities that merchants/brands face, while reducing the costs of LTL (less-than-truckload) cargo shipping, it said.
Post the deal, Rocketbox will be rebranded as Rocketbox by Shiprocket.
Rocketbox began as an intra-city on-demand truck aggregator in June 2015, with over 5,000 drivers on its platform. It received a Series A round of investment from Delhivery in 2015.
Vendor payment, client billing, fleet management, client dashboard, and driver app are among the services offered by the organisation. By 2020, the platform would support over 28,000 pin codes, collaborate with seven carriers, and provide 11 distinct services.
“Given the rapidly-changing consumer expectations and their preference for quick, seamless deliveries, it’s imperative to ensure all legs of the supply chain are optimised. Rocketbox has a cutting-edge platform that extends Shiprocket’s capabilities to B2B use-cases, as well as bulk movement using cargo carriers. The platform brings with it a host of features which will help retailers save time, cost, and effort, allowing a smooth end-to-end logistics experience,” said Saahil Goel, Co-Founder and CEO of Shiprocket.
On 7 January, Shiprocket acquired a 75% stake in customer data platform (CDP) Wigzo Tech for an undisclosed amount.
Shiprocket also partnered with Mumbai Angels Network, a platform for early-stage investments for ‘The Co-Investment Program’.
In December last year, Shiprocket brought in Zomato as an investor. It raised $185 million (Rs 1380 crore) as part of its Series E funding round, co-led led by Zomato Ltd, Temasek Holdings and Lightrock India.
In July 2021, 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 VC arm PayPal Ventures, Info Edge Ventures along with existing investor Bertelsmann. In February 2021, it 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.
Operated by Bigfoot Retail Solutions, Shiprocket was founded in 2017 by Gautam Kapoor, Saahil Goel, and Vishesh Khurana. The platform powers shipping and fulfilment 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 cash on the 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 (FY20) from Rs 58.8 crore in 2018-19, according to VCCEdge the data and research platform of VCCircle.
