Carnegie Mellon alumni startup LogiNext to take Logistics to the next level
Dhruvil Sanghvi, Manisha Raisinghani and Varun Biyani are Indians who met at the Carnegie Mellon University in 2010. Dhruvil has been involved in technology space for more than five years with a strong interest and expertise in Big Data. Manisha comes with over six years of design and development experience in business analytics and optimization and Varun brings with him more than six years of experience in the Information Technology domain along with deep knowledge of logistics and distribution industries. The three of them had many conversations at the intersection of technology, logistics and data.
One fine evening in July last year, the trio were sitting at a Starbucks in Manhattan and discussing the reasons why logistics businesses in emerging markets are so complex and unorganized. “We saw lack of visibility in the delivery networks as one of the key reasons why the logistics services are so unreliable. And since we are all techies by heart, we saw the solution in ‘Internet of Things’,” says Dhruvil. And this is how their first product- Track-A-Pack took birth.
Track-A-Pack is a location-based analytics solution that collects location information of packages and analyses delivery networks in real time based on that information. “It frees logistic companies from the hassle of using manual processes and complex technologies to optimize delivery networks. It takes package and bag tracking to the next level,” says Dhruvil. From that day at the coffee shop, the trio sat at the drawing board and had the product ready in half a year. Market research, problem validation and planning took around three months and the product development took around 4 months after that. The design of the device took place in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon while the manufacturing took place in Shenzhen, China.
Having Varun on board has been a big plus in terms of getting insights into the logistics space because his family has expertise in this field. “We have taken a statistical evidence based approach while pitching to logistics companies. Even before we approach the client, we deploy our smart tags and analytical systems undercover on potential client’s delivery networks so that we have enough evidence, reports and analysis to present the inefficiencies and bottlenecks in their operations,” says Dhruvil. When they showcase their findings while pitching, the logistic companies get to see real insights on their own network from day 0 and it helps them to gauge the value of the product. LogiNext has been able to get five clients on board till date.The company is registered in India and also has most of the operations based in here, where the team has registered a sister concern. LogiNext is a team of eight based out of Mumbai at the moment. Talking about some of their learnings, Dhruvil says, “Before coming to India, we were told that we would have to amend our policies and the way of doing business to suit the Indian mind set. However, we observed a striking similarity between how executives think in India and in the US. It is just that there is a lack of awareness and a negative sentiment flowing in the market which we are trying to eradicate by bringing an open culture.”
Track-A-Pack is the first offering from LogiNext and they have a couple of other products which are scheduled for launch later this year. One of the products is in big data for logistics companies and the other one is with respect to logistics optimization. As a sector, Logistics is a traditionally run business in India and other emerging economies but some of the companies have now started using advanced technologies to meet the needs of high volumes and superior customer service. “We have a bright future to look at where we can save millions of man-hours and billions of dollars by optimizing logistics processes using technologies like M2M, Internet of Things, Big Data and Warehouse Automation,” says Dhruvil.
Website: LogiNext