Logistics firm Rivigo posts 78% rise in operating revenue; loss more than doubles for FY18

Gurugram-based tech logistics platform Rivigo Services Pvt. Ltd posted a 78% rise in its operating revenues even as net losses more than doubled on back of 86% jump in total expenses for the financial year ended March 2018

According to the company’s consolidated financials filed with the ministry of corporate affairs, Rivigo posted operating revenues of Rs 692.6 crore for 2017-18, up from Rs 388.4 crore the previous year.

Total income rose 76% to Rs 719.8 crore for 2017-18, from Rs 408.1 crore the previous year.

Net losses more than doubled to Rs 270.2 crore for 2017-18, up from Rs 123.4 crore the previous year. The significant rise in losses was on account of a higher total expenses, which stood at Rs 990 crore for 2017-18, up 86% from Rs 531.5 crore the previous year. Employee benefit expenses amounted to Rs 151.3 crore for 2017-18, up from 77 crore the previous year.

However, the largest head under total expenses, accounting for 73% of total expenses, was “other expenses”, which stood at Rs 724 crore for 2017-18, up from 392 crore the previous year. Within ‘other expenses’, transport distribution accounted for nearly 70% at Rs 510.6 crore.

E-mail queries to Rivigo did not get a response till the time of filing this report.

Rivigo is one of the significantly funded startups in the logistics tech space, having raised a little over $160 million from the likes of SAIF Partners, Warburg Pincus and Trifecta Capital. Rivigo, besides offering tech-enabled logistics services, owns a fleet of trucks.

Operating in the long-haul freight space, Rivigo was founded in 2014 by Deepak Garg and Gazal Kalra. Garg is an IIT Kanpur alumnus who was with McKinsey & Company before he co-founded the venture. Kalra, who studied at Stanford Graduate School of Business, also had a stint at McKinsey.

Rivigo offers pan-India delivery services to e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, automobile, cold-chain and fast-moving consumer goods companies.

However, the company has gone through episodes of personnel churn in recent times. In October 2018, TechCircle had reported that Kalra had resigned from the company’s board of directors.

Likewise, in February last year, TechCircle had reported that the company saw some top- and mid-level executives leave.

Going by media reports, the company has also been on the lookout for funding. A recent Mint report stated that the company was in talks to raise up to $400 in funding.

The startup’s last-known funding round was in January 2018, when it raised Rs 322.5 crore ($50 million then) in a Series D round, which saw its valuation soar to near-unicorn level at $900 million.