FirstCry's logistics arm raises $8 million from SAIF, Vertex

BANGALORE: E-commerce logistics firm Xpressbees has raised around $8 million or about Rs 54 crore from early-stage investor SAIF Partners and Vertex.
Ventures, the venture arm of Singapore government's investment fund Temasek, sources familiar with the development told TOI. Xpressbees, is the logistics arm of the Ratan Tata backed startup FirstCry—an e-commerce portal for baby and maternity products.Both Vertex Ventures and SAIF Partners are investors in FirstCry as well.
“Logistics is still a problem that most e-commerce players are struggling with and everyone is trying to build their own fleet. Xpressbees which started as a logistics support provider for FirstCry is now cashing in on the growing investor interest around this space. It has other e-commerce players as its partners including Snapdeal,” a person directly aware of the development told TOI.
Xpressbees’s CEO Amitava Saha did not respond to telephone calls and messages sent by TOI. Emails sent to SAIF Partners and Vertex Ventures remained unanswered till the time of going to press.
Most of the leading e-commerce companies including Flipkart, Myntra and Amazon have their own last-mile logistics support to feed the growing demand of online shopping. Snapdeal picked up a minority majority stake in GoJavas last year. “Given India’s complex geographical infrastructure logistics firms will always be in focus because e-commerce companies are continuing to grow their business multiple times. To tap into that need, players like Xpressbees have got a good opportunity,” said an e commerce analyst tracking the sector closely.
As per a report by Goldman Sachs India's online retail market is expected to swell into $36 billion during 2016-17, up from $11 billion in 2014-15.
While companies like Xpressbees are getting on board third party e-commerce companies, online retailers like Flipkart are also adding more muscle to their
in-house logistics services. According to reports, Flipkart has invested Rs 666 crore into its logistic arm Ekart with plans to open it up for rival e-
commerce companies as well. Xpressbees’ parent FirstCry raised $69 million in capital so far from investors including IDG Ventures India, SAIF Partners,
Vertex Ventures, Valiant Capital and NEA. Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, invested in First Cry late last month.