Delhivery in talks to raise $100 mn from Carlyle, Fosun

Gurgaon-based ecommerce logistics firm SSN Logistics Pvt. Ltd, which operates under the brand Delhivery, is in advanced talks to raise $100 million (around Rs 667 crore) led by private equity firm The Carlyle Group with participation from Chinese conglomerate Fosun, according to a media report.

If the deal goes through, it will mark the largest funding round in the ecommerce logistics space.

Citing two persons aware of the development, The Economic Times reported that post the funding, Delhivery will be valued at around $700 million.

In May 2015, the company raised $85 million in its Series D round of funding led by Tiger Global with participation from existing investors Multiples Alternate Asset Management, Nexus Venture Partners and Times Internet Ltd. It previously raised close to $40 million in various rounds from a number of investors after raising its first funding round from Times Internet in 2012.

Carlyle is leading the funding round and Fosun is also in talks to participate in the transaction, the report said.

An email query sent to Delhivery to confirm the development did not elicit a response at the time of filing this report.

Delhivery was founded in 2011 by Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, Suraj Saharan, Bhavesh Manglani and Kapil Bharati. It has grown from a local on-demand delivery company to a full-fledged logistics services provider. The firm registered revenues of Rs 524 crore for the financial year ended 31 March 2016 with a loss of Rs 317 crore, the report said.

In October last year, Barua told The Economic Times that Delhivery is aiming to be profitable by 2018 and is preparing for an initial public offering.

"We are a profitable company and this will reflect in our results for financial year 2018. We are on track to hit $120 million in revenues for FY2016-17, which is an 80% growth over last year. We should deliver close to 75-80 million parcels during this period," he told the newspaper.

In November 2016, Gurgaon-based logistics services provider TrucksFirst Services Pvt. Ltd, which operates Rivigo, secured $75 million (around Rs 500 crore) from private equity firm Warburg Pincus in a Series C round in return for a minority stake.