Logistics firm Xpressbees raises $35 mn from Alibaba

Logistics firm Xpressbees has raised Rs 225 crore (around $35 million) in its Series D round of funding from Alibaba.com Singapore E-commerce Pvt. Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, show documents filed with the Registrar of Companies.

In its last round of funding in early 2016, Xpressbees raised about $12.5 million (around Rs 86 crore) from existing investors SAIF Partners, IDG Ventures India, NEA, Vertex Ventures and Valiant Capital.

Xpressbees was started as the logistics arm of baby products retailer FirstCry in 2012. In September 2015, the company was spun out from FirstCry as BusyBees Logistics Solutions Pvt. Ltd to function as an independent business. The business has been built by FirstCry’s founders Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha.

The firm competes with e-commerce focussed logistics firms like Delhivery, Ecom Express and Vulcan Express which was recently acquired by Future Group for $5.5 million. Ecom Express is backed by PE fund Warburg Pincus while Delhivery is backed by Carlyle Group, Fosun Group and Tiger Global.

Xpressbees reported revenues of Rs 185 crore in the financial year ended 31 March 2017, compared with Rs 84 crore during the same period the preceding financial year. It reported a loss of Rs 58 crore in FY 2016-17 against a loss of Rs 36 crore it FY2015-16. Its expenses doubled to Rs 240 crore in FY2016-17 from Rs 119 crore in FY2015-16.

FirstCry is in talks to raise Rs 666 crore ($101 million) from a group of investors including Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings at a valuation of $400-500 million.

FirstCry last raised $34 million (Rs 226 crore then) in October 2016 from Mahindra Group, Switzerland-based private equity fund Adveq, Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and existing investors including IDG Ventures India. At that time, it had acquired Mahindra & Mahindra’s babycare business BabyOye in a cash-and-stock deal worth Rs 362.1 crore ($54.3 million).