E-com logistics startup Chhotu now clocking over 1,000 deliveries a day

When gold rush happened most of the money was made by the diggers and shovel makers and the same could apply to the e-commerce 'boom' in India. Even as almost all e-com firms are struggling to make their venture profitable, Delhi-based startup Santa Claus Couriers Pvt Ltd, which operates its last mile logistics business as Chhotu.in, says it would break even in the next 3-4 months and is looking to grow to be an Rs 100 crore company in the next three years.

"We have seen stellar growth. From starting up at zero orders we are now delivering about 1,000-1,200 orders on any given day," according to Aadhar Aggarwal, co-founder and COO, Chhotu.in.

Chhotu is working with over 40 e-commerce companies including Snapdeal, Yebhi, Yepme and Zivame. It is currently clocking monthly revenues of around Rs 12 lakh. This translates into roughly Rs 30-40 per shipment as fee.

Founded in 2011 by Navneet Singh and Aadhar Aggarwal, Chhotu.in takes care of the last mile delivery of the goods purchased online, which means it is an e-commerce focused logistics company. In that it has found a niche segment to operate in, even though on paper it is in the same business as multi-billion dollar global giants.

According to Aggarwal, Chhotu differentiates from the goliaths in the business in the way it operates "Traditional logistics players might not work with a new e-commerce company which has a rate of just a couple of orders a day. We would work with them also. We have customised plans for all our customers and have a very key focus on technology aspect of the business," he said.

On other e-com firms like Flipkart and Jabong who are managing their logistics (and Amazon in the process of setting up its own even before it starts its e-com site), he says, "Logistics as a business is not something that you can do as an add on. Companies like Flipkart and Jabong do their own logistics but in another two years' time we see a lot of such players finding comfort in diverting their shipments to us. Whatever services they are doing and need from logistics, we will be in a position to do it better than them."

Operating in Delhi-NCR, Chandigarh and Bangalore, Chhotu is looking to expand to all major cities in the next 7-8 months. It received its first round of funding in February this year from Global Super Angels. As part of the investment, Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Dinesh Agarwal joined the company's board as director and board observer, respectively. Chhotu is now in preliminary talks to raise Series A round of funding.

Watch out this space for detailed video with Aadhar Aggarwal.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)