Sequoia Surge writes cheques for fifth cohort startups TWID, Locad

Logistics and supply chain management integrator Locad has raised $4.9 million (Rs 36 crore) in a seed funding round led by Surge, the startup accelerator programme from Sequoia Capital India.  

Global venture capital firm Antler, Febe Ventures, Foxmont, Global Founders Capital, Gokongwei Family and Hustle Fund participated in the round, the startup said in a statement. 

Read: Meet the 11 Indian companies in Sequoia Surge 05

Locad offers ecommerce brands and retailers end-to-end solutions, ranging from plug-and-play ecommerce fulfilment, to a distributed warehousing network in APAC for companies that are looking to scale up their business globally.  

Founded in Manila, Philippines and Singapore in October 2020 by Constantin Robertz, Jannis Dargel and Shrey Jain, Locad now has offices in Australia, Hong Kong, India as well.  

“At the heart of our mission is the desire to level the playing field in direct-to-consumer commerce by giving brands small and large access to an integrated, distributed and flexible supply chain network that is simple yet scalable. In an industry where reliability and speed could make or break an ecommerce brand, our ability to provide a one-stop platform, from fulfilment capability to distributed warehousing, allows brands to meet the evolving needs of their customers with flexible, nimble and pain-free logistics solutions,” said Robertz. 

“We will leverage the funding to enhance Locad’s platform and infrastructure to better power a frictionless fulfillment solution for brands and SME’s that will expand their business across borders in the region, with Locad as an infrastructure-as-a-service backbone that enables growth both in the home market and abroad,” he added. 

Locad is a part of Surge’s fifth cohort of 23 companies.  

Separately, another company from the fifth cohort TWID (That’s What I Do), a rewards-based payment network, raised $2.5 million (Rs 18 crore) in a round co-led by Surge and BEENEXT. The round also saw participation from angel investors Kunal Shah, Rajul Garg and YourNest India, the startup said in a statement. 

Singapore and India based TWID brings together different rewards points systems across issuers, and converts the points into a fungible payment instrument, to be used universally across TWID’s network of merchants and brands. 

In October 2019, TWID raised about $1.4 million in a seed round led by SVC, a family office of first-generation entrepreneurs who have backed several technology firms in the United States and India.  

TWID was founded in Bengaluru in October 2020 by Amit Koshal, Amit Sharma and Rishi Batra. Amit Koshal and Amit Sharma both held leadership positions at Intuit, while Rishi led marquee investments at Bennett, Coleman and Company (The Times Group).  

“At TWID, our mission is to revolutionise the current fragmented and siloed reward points ecosystem, by introducing one platform which unifies these rewards, through a seamless ‘one click’ experience. Our platform brings back the repeatability and deeper engagement between merchants and brands, and their customers, that these loyalty programmes were originally intended for, said Amit Koshal, co-founder of TWID. 

In the last six months, TWID claims to have processed over 1 million transactions.   

“TWID is creating a completely new network for how we all view rewards. The platform has the same long-term potential as the traditional payment networks we see today. Issuers can convert rewards from liability to income streams while merchants and acquirers can benefit from improved conversion, and are provided with more options at checkout. We certainly look forward to a continued and long-term partnership with TWID,” said Hero Choudhary, managing partner of BEENEXT.