With Blowhorn, Ninjacart, Grofers as its clients, this startup is looking to bring EVs into hyperlocal delivery

There has been a lot of awareness on sustainable travel and commuting in the country in recent years. Hyperlocal delivery players like Swiggy, Zomato, Dunzo, etc., are also slowly switching to green modes of mobility.

As the demand for sustainable and safe modes of transport increases, entrepreneur Prateek Yadav decided to start Zyngo Mobility out of Delhi-NCR in 2019. Zyngo is a hyperlocal third-party logistics (3PL) service provider for the last-mile and middle mile sector, catering to the needs of ecommerce, online grocery, retail, and pharma companies. 

The platform, which caters to the needs of B2B and B2C consumers, uses electric three-wheelers and is looking to serve the daily logistics need of over 20 million SMEs in India. 

Prateek says the startup provides cost efficiency of up to 35 percent to the end-user through its DCD - Driver cum Delivery Associate model, and leaves zero carbon footprint. 

“We aim to deliver 5 lakh shipments monthly in the last mile delivery space by the next fiscal year. We empower drivers by keeping ourselves asset-light and get them assured business in the due course, converting them into vehicle owners after four years,” explains Prateek.

ALSO READ

[Product Roadmap] How Gramophone used tech to increase crop yields by over 30 pc for 8 lakh+ farmers

Starting up

After his stint with the likes of Ashok Leyland, Michelin Tyres, and Tata Motors, Prateek felt there was more that could be disrupted in the logistics sector. 

“I was passionate to get into the logistics sector. I researched extensively about the last-mile logistics business. We wanted to determine which would be the right and foremost solution while assessing the current options that we had,” says Prateek. 

The CNG-propelled vehicles that were in play along with the petrol and diesel variants were expensive. While exploring, the team started doing a bit of math, breaking down the numbers into unit economics. 

Prateek says they also compared these vehicles with bikes. Although bikes were efficient, they had some limitations.

While motorbikes can traverse well through narrow roads, they had to take bulk orders in multiple journeys and the team found that with ample room, the three-wheelers were able to accommodate this in a better manner. 

Why three-wheelers?

“We started noticing electric vehicles (EVs) on road, and there was a lot of buzz around EV in India. Hence, we decided to reach out and connect with EV rickshaw manufacturers, and visited their plants,” adds Prateek. 

This helped the team understand that there may be a commercial application to use EVs in a more cost-effective manner. At this point, they started exploring different options like a flatbed truck or a cargo box, which could help them safely carry the merchandise. 

“We initiated a pilot run by trial and error method. When we were in talks with the manufacturers, they helped us understand how these e-rickshaws were being converted for commercial application in the women passenger segment and fast food pop up, where the rear part of the rickshaw was converted into a vegetable cart or a small kitchen section,” says Prateek. 

It was at this point the startup realised the potential which a commercial loader had in the space of last-mile delivery because it addressed the cost-effectiveness. While addressing these issues, the team found that electric vehicle was an apt solution to the growing problems of high running cost and polluting carbon emissions. 

“We reached out to customers to try an alternative solution. Once the fleet operations kicked off, we understood one of the primary issues associated with an electric vehicle was range anxiety. For this, we came up with the battery swap technology,” adds Prateek. 

ALSO READ

[Startup Bharat] Chandigarh-based SACC aims to build an inclusive startup ecosystem for rural and women entrepreneurs

How does Zyngo help?

Prateek says the last-mile sector is flooded with unorganised players. The thefts, damages, and pilferage to shipments, missing out on scheduled deliveries and regulatory restrictions by authorities have marred the efficiency of the ecosystem. 

According to Zyngo, it resolves these problems in four ways. First, the Zyngo MIS app is an IoT-controlled and GPS-driven fleet that ensures on-time deliveries. Secondly, it ensures cost-effectiveness by adopting the DCD model and reducing the last-mile delivery cost by 35 percent.

Third, there are no regulatory restrictions on EVs and can have 24-hour hassle-free operations. Lastly, the team promises to curb pollution and leave zero carbon footprint from its fleet of EVs. The startup says it has signed SLA’s with companies that have pan-India demand and has also signed yearly contracts with them.

Partnerships and revenue 

Zyngo has partnered with electric mobility major Sun Mobility, led by Chetan Maini, Founder of Reva, India’s first electric car. The vehicles powered by their battery swapping solution intend to alleviate the key

EV adoption challenges such as high upfront cost, range concerns, and long charging time.

The team works on a per shipment basis, which can vary from client to client, or works on kilometer capping. A SaaS-based hyperlocal 3PL logistics company, Zyngo’s base tech platform ensures route optimisation and better productivity.

The startup currently provides service in Delhi, NCR, and Jaipur, and soon plans to reach Chandigarh, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. 

To target the SMEs the Sales and BD teams approach all retailers and firms with flexible price offering - variable and fixed. The cost depends on the payload and the kilometres covered. “We are planning to induce a B2C app for easy booking of all Zyngo EV’s and online payment methods for all logistic services,” says Prateek. 

The team follows fixed monthly payouts per EV (incl. drivers) for all the services rendered to its customers like Bigbasket, Jio Mart (GRAB), Grofers, Ninjacart, Blowhorn, Delhivery, etc. One can avail Zyngo Mobility services per day for Rs 300 for two hours.

Segment and future

Over the last couple of years, EV manufacturing startups have built a strong partner ecosystem with vehicle OEMs like Mahindra & Mahindra and Kinetic Green, and energy solution providers like Panasonic, Exicom, and Sun Mobility. The founders in the segment peg it to be a $42 billion market. 

Some of the other startups operating in the space include SmartE, Ola, Ather Energy, and others. Speaking of the future, Prateek says: “We want to onboard 1,000 vehicles and drivers on our platform and onboard established corporate clients along with the two million MSMEs in India thus serving their hyperlocal needs.”