Logistics solutions startup Locus raises $50 mn from GIC, others

Logistics management startup Locus raised $50 million (Rs 365.4 crores) in a Series C funding round led by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC as it looks to improve its geographical reach and build its research and development team.

The funding round saw participation from Qualcomm Ventures and existing investors Tiger Global Management and Falcon Edge Capital, Locus said in a statement. Angel investors Amrish Rau, chief executive of Pine Labs, Kunal Shah, chief executive of Cred, Raju Reddy, founder of Sierra Atlantic, and Deb Deep Sengupta, former president and managing director of SAP South Asia, also pooled in cash in this round.

Locus, which is operated by Mara Labs Inc. has been looking to expand its operations in the Americas for quite some time. It had raised $22 million in its Series B round of funding in 2019 to expand into North America and Southeast Asia and to revamp its local teams. 

“Quality and patient capital allows us to focus on path-breaking R&D, helping us deliver exceptional long-term value to our customers, over incremental improvements. We will be recruiting more PhDs in our data science team and are looking to double our patents by 2022,” said Nishith Rastogi, CEO of Locus. “We are now looking to support our customers with a global footprint. Other than the geographies we are already present in, we are also investing heavily in Latin America and aggressively building our presence there”, Rastogi added.

Locus, is an advanced supply chain optimisation company that uses proprietary algorithms and deep learning to address supply chain challenges and operational complexities to its customers. The company has offices in India, the US and Indonesia and dedicated local teams for these regions. It has over 40 clients across multiple segments.

The company was founded in March 2015 by Rastogi, a BITS Pilani alumnus, and Geet Garg, an IIT- Kharagpur graduate. Both had earlier worked together at Amazon. The duo had earlier co-founded Pinchat, a location-based interaction app.

Earlier, GIC and public-listed developer The Phoenix Mills Ltd entered into a strategic partnership to establish an investment platform for retail‐led mixed‐use assets in India. As part of the partnership, GIC will acquire a significant minority stake in a portfolio of projects worth $733 million.  

Locus earlier raised $30 million across multiple rounds, it said.