China e-commerce giant Alibaba, who was looking to invest in Pune-based logistics firm Xpressbees has finally sealed the deal with a whopping Rs 224 crore in the firm run by Busybees Logistics Solutions.
This is Alibaba’s sixth bet on the Indian market. However, the previous speculation was more than double in amount i.e. $100 million.
As per latest regulatory documents filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the logistics arm of FirstCry has issued 70, 653 series D preference shares to Alibaba, reports TOI via business research firm Paper.vc.
Founded in 2015 by Amitava Saha and Supam Maheshwari, XpressBees is a logistics business spun out of baby and maternity products retailer FirstCry. The logistics platform competes with other e-commerce focused logistics providers such as Delhivery and Ecom Express.
For Xpressbess, the fiscal year 2017, generated a revenue of Rs 185.42 crore while losses stood at Rs 57.71crore.
So far the company had raised about Rs 360 crore from investors such as SAIF Partners, IDG Ventures, Paytm, Vertex Ventures, and Kris Gopalakrishnan’s Pratithi Trust.
Previously in 2016, it secured $12.5 million Series A funding from SAIF Partners, IDG Ventures, Vertex Ventures and Valiant Capital, among others.
Also Read: Alibaba plans to launch short format video streaming service in India by April
Apart from payment major Paytm and home-grown e-grocer BigBasket, Alibaba is also eyeing to bet on Xpressbees’ competitor Delhivery.
To wield dominance in overall e-commerce segment in India, Alibaba requires investing in logistics and supply chain for faster movement of shipments. Its investment in Xpressbees and probable round in Delhivery indicate that Jack Ma-led behemoth is eying to develop and own a significant stake in supply chain and logistics space.
Meanwhile, Alibaba and Ant Financial reportedly plan to invest $200 Mn in Gurgaon-headquartered Zomato, an online food ordering and restaurant discovery platform.
