Exclusive: On-demand logistics service provider GoPigeon gets $1.5 mn from Nexus Venture

Bangalore-based on-demand logistics service provider GoPigeon has raised $1.5 million (around Rs 10 crore) in a pre-Series A funding round from venture capital investor Nexus Venture Partners, two persons privy to the development told Techcircle.

"The firm aims to use the funds for strengthening the team and enhancing technology," one of the two persons cited above said requesting anonymity.

According to the filings made with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the firm raised the amount in two tranches.

E-mail queries sent to the company and Nexus Venture Partners regarding the investment did not elicit any response at the time of writing this article.

Balodis Technologies Pvt. Ltd which operates GoPigeon, was founded in 2015 by IIT Kharagpur alumni Yeshu Singh, Deovrat Singh and Sourav Sarkar.

The startup is an aggregator of logistics partners and provides on-demand technology enabled end-to-end logistics to ecommerce companies. The order allocation is done on the basis of algorithms linked to the performance of the logistics provider in a particular area.

The startup claims to be covering about 20,000 PIN codes and delivering 20,000 orders daily. GoPigeon provides tech-based dashboards allowing clients to upload orders, track shipments and manage orders.

It has also tied up with logistics firms such as Xpressbees, Delhivery and FedEx, among others.

Shailesh Ghorpade, managing partner at investment firm Exfinity Venture Partners, said, "In logistics, optimising routes, schedules, high costs are genuine problems. Geo coding is not there in India and there are multiple problems which need fixing, whether it in first mile, last mile or long haul. Some of the logistics companies are trying to address this problems and anything that goes to improve the logistics cost, efficiency and productivity will not only benefit the companies using it but will also benefit the Indian economy."

To be sure, several startups are trying to find their feet in this segment. In June, on-demand logistics services provider Parcelled pivoted its business model, outsourcing its delivery services to third-party vendors.

In February, Mumbai-based Kribha Handicrafts Pvt. Ltd, which runs e-commerce marketplace for ethnic products Craftsvilla, acquired on-demand logistics enabler Sendd.

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