Excl: Vertex Venture leads $40M series B round in Greendust.com parent Reverse Logistics Company

Delhi-based reverse supply chain solution provider, Reverse Logistics Company Pvt Ltd (RLC), which operates under the Greendust brand, has received $40 million (Rs 171 crore) funding from Vertex Venture Holdings Ltd and existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers (KPCB) and Sherpalo Ventures.

Sources close to the development told VCCircle that RLC raised $30 million from Vertex, while KPCB and Sherpalo Ventures invested $5 million each.

Hitendra Chaturvedi, founder and CEO of the company which has an e-commerce website GreenDust, said, "We want reverse logistics to be a catalyst for growth for our business partners. With this round of funding we will be able to provide even better world class, pan-India solution to them.

"Moreover, we will be able to strengthen our online and offline presence through Greendust.com, thereby providing value conscious Indian consumers highly discounted branded products. In these tough economic times this is a win-win for our business partners as well as Indian consumers," he added.

"We are delighted to partner with Hitendra in building a world class trusted online retailer that offers incredible value to its customers" said CHUA Joo Hock, managing director and chief investment officer at Vertex.

"The management team has shown strong execution over the last three years and has built capabilities which will help them scale quickly. We look forward to support them through the next phase of growth."

RLC was founded in 2009 as a reverse logistics company, combining technology, services, and domain experience into a solution that would allow Indian companies to beat global supply chain benchmarks of efficiency and productivity by outsourcing their entire reverse logistics process. RLC is clocking revenues close to Rs 100 crore this fiscal, sources with knowledge of the situation said. Apart from KPCB and Sherpalo, Reliance Venture has also invested in the company.

A computer engineer from IIT with an MS and MBA from US Chaturvedi has over 20 years of experience in software/IT, multi-channel retail, and supply chain solutions. He has worked for Ernst & Young and A.T. Kearney/EDS. Apart from consulting for large Fortune 100 companies, he has held interim CEO and CMO roles for three VC-funded start-ups.

Before launching RLC, Chaturvedi was the business unit head for Microsoft's OEM business in India. Prior to Microsoft, he was instrumental in building an IT-enabled reverse logistics company, Newgistics, in the US.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)