Logistics firm Delhivery is expected to receive funding from Japan’s SoftBank Group, though the precise amount is yet to be disclosed. The Japanese investor, already heavily invested in a large number of Indian startups has now sought an approval from the competition commission of India (CCI) to acquire around 38% stake in Delhivery, reports VCCircle. Experts don’t see any hurdle in SoftBank getting this approval since the logistics sector has not evolved to the extent of causing any harm to another player in the sector.
This funding will be routed through a Cayman Islands-registered entity SVF Doorbell (Catman) Limited, belonging to the Japanese group.
The application filed with CCI states that this investment arm of SoftBank will, in the first stage, buy 22.44% primary equity in the company and subsequently add more to their kitty through buying stakes in Delhivery. There has been no specific rate mentioned at which the stakes will be acquired.
The two parties to the deal have not officially responded to reports on this. However, Delhivery had intended to go in for an IPO and the amount it would have raised by this IPO would have been around $250 to $400 million. Maybe, the potential funding from Softbank could be close to this figure. The proposal for the IPO has been dropped it was reported later.
Delhivery has already raised $250 million and the existing investors include Carlyle and Multiples Asses Management, Tiger Global from the US, Fosun International of China, India’s Nexus Venture Partners and Times Internet. The logistics startup has been quite successful in attracting investments and has so far raised over $250 million. A couple of other startups, Rivigo and Ecomm Express are being cited as competitors in its business for Delhivery.
The company has posted impressive top line growth the last year but the losses have also been mounting.