Snapdeal invests $20M more in logistics firm gojavas

Jasper Infotech Pvt Ltd, which runs online e-com marketplace Snapdeal, has invested $20 million (Rs 131 crore) more in logistics firm QuickDel Logistics Pvt Ltd, which runs operations under the gojavas brand, it said on Wednesday.

Snapdeal had first invested in gojavas, which was previously a part of Jabong, a lifestyle e-tailer incubated by Rocket Internet, in March this year. It had not disclosed the investment amount but said it has picked a minority stake in the logistics firm.

"The company's average timeline for delivering Snapdeal orders has reduced by a full 24 hours in the last six months and our teams have worked closely to come up with innovative solutions that are enhancing customers' shopping experience on Snapdeal. With the freshly infused funds, our aim is to help gojavas become more successful and expand their reach," said Rohit Bansal, co-founder of Snapdeal.

Snapdeal said it has invested $100 million in the last six months to improve it delivery timelines by 70 per cent and it will invest $200 million more in next 12 months to strengthen its supply chain.

gojavas will be using the capital for expanding its operations to 100 more cities within 12 months.

Vijay Ghadge, COO at gojavas, said the partnership with Snapdeal has helped it become one of the largest independent logistics players in the country with a revenue run rate of Rs 500 crore currently.

gojavas currently manages over 1 lakh sq ft of fulfilment centres and helps more than 400 companies reach consumers in close to 350 cities and towns in more than 3,000 PIN-codes. It claims to deliver over 1.8 lakh packages every day and closed FY15 with revenues of over Rs 200 crore.

It was originally an in-house delivery venture of Jabong but later spun out as a separate third-party logistics firm.

Snapdeal that recently secured $500 million in a fresh round of funding from iPhone manufacturer Foxconn, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and existing investor SoftBank, has been aggressively investing in other companies. Besides acquiring FreeCharge early this year in what is tipped as the biggest deal in the Indian internet space, Snapdeal has acquired Shopo, Exclusively, software company Reduce Data and mobile solutions firm Letsgomo. It has recently invested in hyperlocal grocery delivery app PepperTap and earlier picked a stake in price comparison website Smartprix.