Ex-Flipkart employees' startup Roadrunnr raises $11M funding, aims to develop the largest fleet of on-demand hyperlocal delivery carriers in the country

B2B online platform and service provider for hyperlocal logistics, Roadrunnr has raised $11 million from Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, and Blume Ventures. This investment will help Roadrunnr enhance its technology platform, expand nationally and build a dense delivery network.

Co-founded by ex-Flipkart employees Mohit Kumar and Arpit Dave, Roadrunnr team members also include ex-Ola and ex-Amazon work force. They are building a technology platform that enables handling logistics at scale and run operations in an efficient manner. The company had earlier raised seed funding from Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures.

Roadrunnr's growth run

Bengaluru-based Roadrunnr caters to merchants, restaurants and e-commerce companies, managing their deliveries in a cost effective manner while adhering to service level agreements. The company claims to have the largest fleet for on-demand services in Bengaluru and has recently started operations in Delhi NCR. It now plans to take this model across India and develop the largest fleet of on-demand hyperlocal delivery carriers in the country. The company has piloted its services in Mumbai and has got a good response from merchants.

Mohit says,

Roadrunnr services are asset light, involving no hubs or warehouses which allow a flexible model for both merchants and drivers. In a short span of time, we have been able to achieve delivery accuracy of close to 100% and have reached about 1500 orders a day.

The company partners with students, drivers and others who work with Roadrunnr on a part-time basis. Their pricing model differs from other aggregators as they charge merchants a flat fee based on their shipment size rather than the value of the order.

Investors' take on hyperlocal logistics

1. According to Sameer Brij Verma, Principal, Nexus Venture Partners, hyper-local logistics is a very complex math and operational problem to solve at scale. It requires a robust blend of platform thinking along with exceptional operational execution to provide fulfilment services for merchants / online aggregators in a scalable and cost effective manner.
2. Adit Parekh, Principal, Blume Venture, believes that hyper-local logistics due to time criticality and optimum routing challenges can be only solved through a technology platform approach augmented with excellent operation skills.
3. Gautam Mago, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India Advisors, is betting on Roadrunnr's success on simplifying the challenges of on-demand delivery due to their focus on a streamlined and transparent platform.

Hyperlocal market and competition

On the lines of consumer facing peers, B2B hyperlocal startups have also been attracting VC attention. Bengaluru-based Swiggy secured $18.5 million in last six months while Grab.in (formerly Grab a Grub) raised $1 million from Oliphans Capital and independent investor Haresh Chawla.

Besides aforementioned companies, Roadrunnr competes with merchant-focused delivery startup Quickli, Foodpanda, and Mealsonwheels among others. So far, food and grocery delivery startups are having a ball in India and it would be exciting to see how this space shapes and evolves in the future.

Last Mile delivery in India has been the biggest pain because of lack of services and very little skill development efforts by the logistic biggies.

With a lot of hyperlocal-based order aggregators, including Zomato, TinyOwl in food; Amazon Kirana Now, Big Basket, and Paytm etc. keen to aggregate grocery orders, last mile hyperlocal fulfillment opportunities have never been as big. This is leading to the gold rush by the VCs.

(with inputs from Jai Vardhan)

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