Microsoft M12 leads scaled back growth funding round in logistics SaaS startup FarEye

RoboticWares, the Delhi-based startup that owns and operates logistics management platform FarEye, has raised $23 million in a funding round led by Microsoft’s corporate venture capital investment arm M12.

Honeywell Venture Capital and Eight Roads Ventures participated in the round as new investors along with returning investor SAIF Partners. 

M12 invested a little over $10 million (Rs 76.3 crore) after subscribing to 40,866 compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS), FarEye’s latest regulatory filings showed.

Honeywell Venture Capital and Eight Roads Ventures invested $4.9 million and a little over $5 million respectively after subscribing to 20,438 CCPS each. SAIF Partners invested a little over $3 million.

According to a FarEye statement on Wednesday, the company raised $25 million in the latest round, dubbed its Series D round, from the four investors. "We will use this investment to create greater value and improve the experience for our customers by enhancing the platform’s predictive capabilities, increasing platform partnerships, expanding into new markets and growing our teams in Europe, APAC & US,” FarEye CEO Kushal Nahata said in the statement. To help ensure businesses reach their end customers as the world grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic, the company is offering its product ‘Serve’ at a zero-fee to enable the seamless movement of groceries and essential goods, the statement added.

In February this year, TechCircle reported that FarEye was in advanced stages of closing a $40 million round that was slated to be led by Eight Roads Capital, the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International. 

“The current scenario (the global Covid-19 pandemic) prompted one of the lead investors to scale back their commitment. As a result, the overall size of the round had to be reduced,” said a person privy to the transaction.

Email queries to FarEye on the scaled back round didn’t elicit responses at the time of publishing this report.

FarEye last raised capital in February 2018 when Germany’s Deutsche Post DHL Group led a $9.56 million round in the company.

Founded by Kushal Nahata, Gautam Kumar and Gaurav Srivastava in 2013, FarEye a SaaS (software as a service) based logistics management platform that is used across sectors by companies such as DHL International, Blue Dart Express, Walmart, Hilti, Future Enterprises-owned Future Supply Chain and Amway Corp.

The startup recently joined hands with Hindustan Zinc to enable the latter to reduce dependency on manual processes, enhance logistics efficiency and mitigate risks in building a digital control tower. It also inked a deal with Gurugram-based online food delivery company Zomato in August 2019.

Logistics technology startups have gained significant traction with investors over the past couple of years. 

In January, Chennai-based Pando raised $9 million in a Series A funding round led by Chiratae Ventures.

Companies such as Xpressbees, Ecom Express and Rivigo also raised recent funding rounds.

This article has been amended from the original to reflect the company's statement on the latest funding round.