Logistics management startup FarEye gets fresh funding

Delhi-based RoboticWares Pvt. Ltd, which runs logistics management startup FarEye, has raised Rs 61.53 crore ($9.56 million) in a fresh round of funding, regulatory filings show.

FarEye received the money from Singapore-based 23i Pvt. Ltd in January by issuing preference shares, show the five-year-old startup’s filings to the Registrar of Companies.

23i appears to be linked to Germany’s Deutsche Post DHL Group. The filings showed the funding was led by Dietmar Nienstedt, global head of mergers and acquisitions at Deutsche Post DHL.

As part of the transaction, Thomas Ogilvie joined the board of FarEye as a representative of 23i. Ogilvie is a member of Deutsche Post’s supervisory board and looks after personnel and labour functions at the postal and logistics group.

Prior to this round, the startup had raised $3.5 million (around Rs 20 crore) in a Series A round from multi-stage investment firm SAIF Partners in June 2016.

Email queries to FarEye, Deutsche Post DHL and Nienstedt seeking details of the funding did not elicit a response till the time of filing this article.

The development was first reported by Paper.vc, a financial data and research platform for private markets.

FarEye was established in 2013 by Kushal Nahata, Gautam Kumar and Gaurav Srivastava.

Nahata, who is the CEO, holds a B.Tech degree in electronics and telecommunication. He earlier worked at Bhubaneshwar-based Learnics.in. COO Kumar, also an electronics engineering graduate, took the entrepreneurial route right after completing studies. CTO Srivastav is a computer science graduate and co-founded FarEye soon after his graduation.

The company’s flagship logistics management software helps the entire supply chain, from first-mile seller pick-ups to last-mile delivery. Apart from this, the company’s tech-based solutions cater to sales force automation and field workforce management.

Last month, media reports stated that the company had launched its newest offering, Drop&Pick, which enables any parcel shop to quickly register a parcel and the sender’s details while also capturing handwritten information. This is then followed by scanning the shipment and adding the recipient’s name, delivery details and parcel size.

In 2016-17, FarEye registered a 57% rise in operational revenue to Rs 6.38 crore, up from Rs 4.06 crore the previous year. Gross expenditure more than doubled to Rs 11.13 crore from Rs 4.48 crore, as staff costs and administrative overheads rose. Consequently, its net loss widened to Rs 4.49 crore from Rs 35.67 lakh the previous year.

The logistics sector in India has seen a few significant investment deals in barely a month into the new year.

Late last month, logistics firm Xpressbees raised Rs 225 crore(around $35 million) from Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Earlier in January, Gurgaon-based tech-enabled logistics services provider Rivigo Services Pvt. Ltd raised Rs 322.5 crore ($50 million) in a Series D round that saw its valuation soar to near-Unicorn levels.