Avendus Future Leaders Fund backs Xpressbees in a secondary transaction

Avendus Future Leaders Fund has announced a secondary investment of Rs 195 crore in logistics company, Xpressbees. 

As part of the investment, Avendus Future Leaders Fund will buy out the stakes of Elevation Capital, according to a report by Economic Times. 

“In the last few years, the logistics sector has witnessed a revolutionary change and has become a vital enabler for facilitating commerce in India. Xpressbees, with its asset-light franchise model coupled with cutting edge technology deployment across all its functions, is all set to occupy a leading position in the logistics landscape in India,” said Ritesh Chandra, Managing Partner at Avendus Future Leaders Fund in a statement. 

This is the sixth investment from the Avendus Future Leaders Fund II, which has a corpus of Rs 750 crore, with Rs 500 crore in green-shoe option. The new fund, which invests an average of Rs 35-100 crore in late stage companies, has also backed Lenskart, SBI General Insurance, Licious, Juspay, and Zeta. The fund, launched in August 2021, has Rs 1,500 crore Assets Under Management (AUM).

Interestingly, Fund I, which had a corpus of Rs 375 crore and was raised in 2019 had also invested in public-listed ecommerce logistics company, Delhivery. Other investments from the fund include Lenskart, VerSe Innovation, Bikaji Foods, national Stock Exchange and Ujjivan Small Finance  Bank.

Pune-headquartered Xpressbees joined the list of Indian startup unicorns, valued at over $1 billion, in February, 2022 in a $300 million round of funding led by private equity players Blackstone, TPG Growth and ChrysCapital.

"We are excited to partner with Avendus at this stage as we continue our journey to become a leading end-to-end logistics player. We have built a well-respected and valuable brand and believe this announcement is a great testament to the opportunity that exists in the logistics space," said Amitava Saha, Founder, Xpressbees.

Since the funding, Xpressbees has doubled down on targeting direct-to-consumer brands and has also launched cross-border logistics.