Exclusive: Truck aggregator TruckMandi gets under $2M in pre-Series A funding

TruckMandi, a Delhi–based startup that connects logistics services providers with customers for inter-city trucking services, has raised under $2 million (Rs 13.3 crore) in pre-Series A funding from JustEat India founder Ritesh Dwivedy and other investors.

Livspace.com founder Ramakant Sharma and Singapore-based Mount Nathan Advisors also participated in this round of funding, Ankit Singh, TruckMandi co-founder, told Techcircle.in.

The money raised is being deployed by TruckMandi for geographical expansion into 15 cities. The company recently started operations in Delhi, Ludhiana and Haridwar, Ankit added.

TruckMandi, run by Fixinnov Technology Pvt Ltd, was founded in October 2014 by former Snapdeal executives Ankit Singh and Anurag Jain, along with ex-TCS staffer Nishant Singh Jadon.

TruckMandi is an online marketplace that allows transporters to bid for trips. The startup charges a commission on bookings made through its platform, Ankit added. TruckMandi caters to around 500 partner companies and has tied up with about 1,000 transporters, Ankit said.

The company counts Jindal Stainless Steel, Fedders Lloyd, Bonn Biscuits, Pushp India Pvt Ltd, DHL Supply Chain and A-One Containers, besides others as clients.

A bunch of tech startups have joined the business of connecting logistics services providers with customers for inter/intra-city transport and relocation services in the recent past. These ventures are asset light and do not own the vehicles themselves and comes across as a booking platform similar to taxi hailing apps Ola and Uber. Indeed several have also raised angel or VC funding.

BlackBuck, an online marketplace for freight booking service, raised $25 million in Series A funding from Tiger Global and other investors recently.

While on-demand booking platform for mini-trucks Moovo.in raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from cricketer Yuvraj Singh's venture investment fund YouWeCan and others, Bangalore-based theKarrier raised Rs 1.5 crore ($240,000) in a seed round of funding led by Sol Primero.

As per data from VCCedge, six truck aggregators have raised about $50 million in external funding from investors this year.

Turant Delivery, an on-demand logistics aggregator for relocation services, acquired smaller peer Zippon for an undisclosed amount three months ago.