Walmart's Flipkart has led a $60 million financing round in logistics platform Shadowfax as the online retailer looks to expand hyperlocal delivery capabilities.
This investment is part of a Series D funding that Shadowfax has received from Eight Roads Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Mirae Asset Naver Fund and World Bank backed IFC.
Flipkart has an existing partnership with Shadowfax to fulfil logistics requirements across various categories in its e-commerce business.
"At Flipkart, we are focused on redefining customer experience, and hyperlocal is a key element to enable this transformation," Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Chief Executive Officer, Flipkart, said in a statement on Thursday.
FILE – A worker removes an advertisement billboard of Indian online marketplace Flipkart, installed along the roadside in Mumbai, India, Oct. 16, 2015. Amazon.com Inc. is concentrating on India and its competition, Flipkart. VOA
"We have seen strong synergies with Shadowfax through our existing engagement with them, and their investments in tech-enabled innovations will help us significantly reduce delivery time and provide superior customer experiences across product categories," Krishnamurthy added.
Founded in 2015, Shadowfax currently enables delivery of 10 million monthly shipments across diverse segments ranging from hot food to grocery to fashion, electronics and other e-commerce items.
The company will use the funds to enhance the tech capabilities of the platform, recruit talent, increase the number of shipments to 100 million a month and expand its geographical presence to 1,000 Indian cities, Flipkart said.
"With the new round of capital infusion, Shadowfax plans to invest extensively in building long-term capabilities which are essential to developing an efficient and superior service quality ecosystem in Indian logistics," said Abhishek Bansal, CEO, Shadowfax. (IANS)