LocoNav raises Series B, plans acquisitions

Logistics-tech startup LocoNav Inc on Tuesday said it has raised $37 million (Rs 274 crore) as part of its Series B funding round.

The funds were raised from Quiet Capital, Anthemis Group, Sequoia Capital India, Foundamental, RIT Capital Partners, Uncorrelated Ventures, and Village Global, said LocoNav in a statement.

The round also saw participation from individuals such as Anjali Joshi (ex-VP, product, Google), Anand Chandrasekaran (ex-CPO, SnapDeal, and ex-director, Facebook), Manik Gupta (ex-CPO, Uber), Jai Shekhawat, Mark Licht, Akhil Paul, Vas Bhandarkar, Ajay Agarwal (partner at Bain Capital Ventures), Abhi Ingle (COO at Qualtrics) and Aadil Mamujee.

LocoNav will use the funds to strengthen its technology and data science team across San Francisco, Gurugram and Bengaluru.

The fresh capital will also help the company establish additional partnerships and channels, and make strategic acquisitions.

Earlier known as Baba Trucks, LocoNav was founded in 2016 by Shridhar Gupta and Vidit Jain. The company provides proprietary technology solutions to help its clients manage their fleets. It is already live in 25 countries. 

It also already uses its data insights to build customer-relevant services such as LocoDrive, a virtual driver control centre with advanced solutions to keep fleet owners in sync with their drivers; LocoADAS, an advanced video telematics and driver safety solution; LocoPay, an easy toll and prepaid cards payment solutions to eliminate the need for cash management; and LocoRTO, which helps in compliance management and others.

Prior to this funding, LocoNav had raised $10 million led by Sequoia Capital and Foundamental. VCCircle had first reported about Foundamental’s debut investment in India in LocoNav. So far LocoNav has raised $47 million.

David Greenbaum, partner at Quiet Capital, said that LocoNav has built an end-to-end product that becomes deeply embedded in how fleet owners and operators run their business.

"As a result, LocoNav has been able to scale rapidly through word of mouth, allowing the company to become a hyper growth market leader while also being very capital efficient,” he added.

There has been a steady stream of investments in companies operating in the logistics-tech space in the past few years. Both investment firms and companies have made bets in this sector.

Just earlier this week, GoBolt raised $20 million (Rs 148 crore) as part of its Series B funding round led by new investor Paragon Partners and existing investor Aavishkaar.

Last month, FarEye raised $100 million (Rs 728.4 crore) as part of its Series E funding round led by Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm TCV and San Francisco-based growth-oriented investment firm Dragoneer Investment Group.

Earlier in January, Ripplr raised $3 million in a Series A funding round from a clutch of investors including Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund.

Some of the larger venture capital-funded firms in this space include Rivigo, BlackBuck, and Delhivery.