First unicorn of 2019: Delhivery valuation hits $1.6B with $350M funding from SoftBank
In its Series F round, the Gurgaon-based logistics startup raised a total of $395 million. Its existing investors Carlyle Group and Fosun International also participated in this round.
Gurgaon-based logistics startup Delhivery raised $395 million in its Series F round to become the first Indian unicorn of 2019. The company raised $350 million from SoftBank Group alone, while existing investors Carlyle Group and Chinese conglomerate, Fosun International also participated in the round.
With this new round of funding, Delhivery is now valued at $1.6 billion.
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According to the Registrar of Company (RoC) filings, Delhivery issued 1.23 million Compulsory Cumulative Preference Shares (CCPS) of face value of Rs 100 each, at a premium of Rs 20,063 to SoftBank. The Japan-headquartered multinational conglomerate routed the funds through SVF Doorbell (Cayman), one of its investment subsidiaries.
Additionally, the startup allotted 158,000 Series F CCPS to Carlyle.
SoftBank and Carlyle Group now own around 23.41 percent and 12.39 percent respectively of the company, state media reports.
Founded in 2011 by Sahil Barua, Bhavesh Manglani, Kapil Bharati, Suraj Saharan and Mohit Tandon, Delhivery is a third-party logistics service provider operating in 1,700 cities across the country.
The company website's claims that the team has fulfilled over 340 million orders to more than 50 million households across India. The company has 19 automated sort centres, 30 fulfilment centres, 44 hubs and more than 5,000 partner centers.
Delhivery has raised a total of $652.6 million so far from investors including Tiger Global Management, Multiples Alternate Asset Management and Nexus Venture Partners, besides SoftBank, Carlyle Group and Chinese conglomerate, Fosun International.
One of the biggest investors in the Indian startup ecosystem, SoftBank plans to invest $10 billion in India by 2022. The Japanese conglomerate has already invested in four other Indian unicorns - Paytm, PolicyBazaar, Ola and OYO.
At present, the logistics industry in India employs 22 million people and is expected to be the largest job creator by 2022.
Earlier in February, competitor XpressBees raised venture debt of Rs 35 crore from InnoVen Capital. This was right after Chinese conglomerate Alibaba invested over Rs 225 crore in the Pune-based logistics company.
