Logistics startup urDelivery charges nothing if it fails to deliver parcels within 24 hours [Quick look at startups in e-com logistics space]

As front end e-commerce ventures are scaling up fast and raising venture capital money, backend services like logistics have also led to the birth of a lot of startups and are attracting investor’s interest in India. Like the e-commerce startups, startups in this space are also vying for their share of the funding pie.

After e-commerce dedicated logistics solution Delhivery announced $35 million Series C funding, its competitor Ecom Express closed Rs.100 Crore investment from Peepul Capital. Another Delhi-based Holisol Logistics, a provider of back-end logistics services to e-commerce companies, raised $1.5 million in venture funding.

Besides these three established startups and heavyweight logistics companies like Blue Dart, DTDC, Gati, Dotzot, etc, India Post and urDelivery are the new entrants in the space. While India Post signed a MoU with Shopclues and Snapdeal to be their delivery partner providing wider reach and network to the e-commerce players, Delhi-based urDelivery is offering attractive features like 24-hour delivery timer and four hours remittance model.

The brainchild of Manjeet, Sandy and Chirag, urDelivery commits to deliver shipments within 24 hours, and in case it fails, the startup charges nothing from the etailer. When asked what prompted the trio to launch urDelivery, Manjeet says, “Everyone is aware that logistics is the backbone of any successful e-commerce business whether in India or outside. This space though has seen its own growth simultaneously. People have not been able to maintain and sustain the commitment levels.”

The idea for urDelivery came when one of the key e-commerce market players launched a sale and later struggled with logistics. “We Indians simply love sale and discount. The recent boom in sales figures of almost all the e-commerce companies can validate this statement. However, it has also been noticed that with increase in sales figure, frustration of customers pertaining to delivery commitments over the web also increases. That was the Eureka moment for UrDelivery,” adds Manjeet.

The startup offers services like aggregation, fulfillment, warehousing, transportations and last mile delivery to e-commerce companies. Importantly, it repackages the shipment to reduce overall cost per parcel and avoid losses, and theft etc.

A lot has been talked and discussed in the media about Cash on Delivery (COD) being a necessary evil. “We also believe that, but we also see it as empowering the customer. Our real-time, in-house tracking system assists our customer’s customer to keep a track of their orders live,” adds Sandy. urDelivery remits cash on COD delivery within four hours.

Technology is a big differentiator for logistics startups over heavy-weights

The e-commerce-dedicated logistics solutions have an upper hand over the other regular (traditional) B2B logistics players, and to some extent Delhivery and Ecom Express have proved it. Technology has an important part to play when it comes to e-commerce in contrast to logistics involved in other sectors. And emphasis on technology is one of the key differentiators for e-commerce dedicated logistics startups like Delhivery and urDelivery.

Logistics is a deep pocket game and without venture capital money surviving in the market is tough for startups. Earlier, Delhi-based Chhotu.in shut its operation as it failed to raise money.

According to a recent report by Accel Partners, online shopping of physical goods will increase from $2 billion in 2013 to $8.5 billion in 2016, while online shoppers will double to 40 million in 2016 from 20 million in 2013.

To grab the pie of this fast growing market, logistics players are all set to grow rapidly with venture capital money. And sensing the big opportunity in the space, more startups will evolve to cater to the growing need of e-commerce logistics.

Checkout urDelivery here.