[The Turning Point] How Zomato-backed Shiprocket found its sweet spot by focusing on logistics

Shiprocket has been a fast-growing startup that recently got more attention for being backed by the likes of Zomato, Temasek Holdings, Lightrock. Moore Strategic Ventures, 9Unicorns, InfoEdge Ventures and March Capital.

The Delhi-based AI-backed logistics technology platform aims to create a seamless platform that connects retailers, carriers, and consumers across national and international locations. The focus is on providing superior shipping experiences to sellers and consumers across India, for D2C ecommerce. In addition to offering shipping services, Shiprocket also provides a technology stack to help retailers integrate their shopping websites on Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Zoho, and others for workflow, inventory, and order management.  

Shiprocket started operations in 2017 when it was launched by Saahil Goel, Gautam Kapoor, and Vishesh Khurana, but it began life as Kartrocket in 2012 to democratise commerce digitisation for the growing number of small businesses. It started as am focused on building multiple products for SMEs -- an ecommerce website, shipping solutions, and a Facebook and Google marketing platform, among others. 

“While working on those products, we gained insight into SME behavior and the core problems they face when it comes to ecommerce,” Saahil earlier told YourStory. 

ALSO READ

Saahil Goel on Shiprocket's strong growth and scaling during Unlock 1.0

Despite shipping being one of the available features in KartRocket’s ecommerce platform, it was only in late 2016 that the team launched logistics services separately. “We wanted to offer end-to-end shipping solutions and not confine ourselves to one particular service,” he said.

Saahil added that smaller sellers had trouble running the shipping due to smaller volumes. This led to the launch of ShipRocket, which decided to focus only on the shipping product going forward.

KartRocket continued to exist as Shiprocket 360, but the shipping services were separately incorporated as Shiprocket in 2017. And since then, the growth has been rocketing.  

Today, Shiprocket is the force powering the country’s one lakh-plus sellers who generate a GMV of more than $1 billion annually on the platform. The brand delivers packages to more than 66 million consumers annually and is growing 3X year on year.

The logistics has a network of over 17 courier partners and enables delivery across 29,000 pin codes in India and 220 countries.  

In 2020, the startup elevated its Chief Business Officer (CBO) Akshay Ghulati as a 'Co-founder'.

With the launch of its services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in November 2021, ShipRocket has also taken the first step towards expanding its footprint in new geographies. The company is going to make several strategic initiatives, including hyperlocal delivery services and global expansion, starting with the Middle East.