[Funding alert] Logistics startup ElasticRun raises $40M led by Prosus Ventures

Pune-based logistics startup ElasticRun on Wednesday announced that it has raised $40 million led by Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures), with participation from existing investor Avataar Ventures and Kalaari Capital. 

In a statement, the company said the new funding will help it to expand its deeply penetrated logistics network. The startup will also use the new funds to further build its technology platform to accommodate new product lines, expand the platform to additional categories, and to evolve its analytics and machine learning platforms to handle national scale.

At the same time, it will expand its network coverage to new geographies and further deepen its operations in existing geographies.

Sandeep Deshmukh, Co-founder and CEO, ElasticRun, said,

“The last-mile problem is still a major issue both for logistics and consumer goods companies in India. By working with a network of small stores across the country, we solve that problem while helping the store owners grow their businesses at the same time. In addition, offering a flexible logistics extension to consumer goods companies to directly reach these small retail shops is a huge advantage over traditional distribution networks.”

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Founded by Sandeep Deshmukh, Saurabh Nigam and Shitiz Bansal in 2016, ElasticRun’s services are already available in over 200 Indian cities and are built on its network of small convenience stores. The startup enables small store owners to leverage the quiet times of the day to gain increased revenue by handling local last-mile deliveries.

At the same time, ElasticRun is working with consumer goods companies to offer a plug-n-play distribution network to extend their existing distribution network to the stores in its network. The startup looks to extend this network to a million stores in the near future.

“Naspers has been investing in India for more than a decade, partnering with businesses that are solving big societal needs with technology, in a uniquely Indian way. ElasticRun is one of those rare businesses that identified a massive need in the market, matched it with a local solution paired with technology, for the benefit of all parties involved,” said Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Investments for India, Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures). 

Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures) invests across a range of markets, including next generation ecommerce, education, health, blockchain and more.

It already has invested in companies like Brainly, BYJU’S, Codecademy, DappRadar, Dott, Honor, iFood, Joymode, Meesho, Movile, SimilarWeb, SoloLearn, Swiggy and Udemy.  

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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