Logistics optimiser Locus bags $4 Mn pre-Series B round

Logistics management platform Locus has raised $4 million in a pre-Series B round of funding from Rocketship.vc, Recruit Strategic Partners, pi Ventures and Hemendra Kothari of DSP Group.

The Bengaluru-based startup also saw participation from existing investors Blume Ventures, Exfinity Venture Partners, BeeNext and growX ventures.

Importantly, we are probably hearing Pre Series B round for the very first time from an Indian startup. Nevertheless, even Pre Series A round was arrived in 2015 from nowhere to become a fad.

Over the past couple of years, a major chunk of post-seed rounds (before comparatively larger Series A) is being termed as Pre Series A.

Founded in 2015 by Nishith Rastogi and Geet Garg, Locus optimises logistics operations for enterprises, across sectors, to improve efficiencies resulting in higher profitability. The fresh fundings will be deployed towards building IP and for expanding into new geographies.

It provides logistics solutions for on-demand businesses for dispatching, route optimization, real-time driver tracking, managing on-field workforce, mobile messaging, real-time tracking and SMS alerts for end-customers.

To a large extent, Locus offerings seem to compete with Bengaluru-headquartered Hypertrack. While the former targets e-commerce and logistics companies as customer base, Hypertrack eyes enabling developers to plug and play its solutions through SDK.

Also Read: With 2.4 Mn deliveries a month, Shadowfax eyes to be leader in crowdsourced logistics

Locus clientele base includes Urban Ladder, Bigbasket, Myntra, Tata Group of Companies, Droplet, Licious, Lenskart, and others. It currently works with clients in India, Singapore, Jakarta, Phoenix and Vancouver and claims to grow by 500 per cent year-on-year.

In its previous round, Locus had raised $2.75 million in Series A funding led by Exfinity Venture Partners with participation from Blume Ventures, BeeNext, Rajesh Ranavat, MD, Fung Capital and other existing investors.

Earlier, it had raised an angel round led by growX ventures and Manish Singhal in July 2015. Bhupen Shah, Sanjay Mehta, and Ankit Pruthi also participated in this round.

Besides Locus, some of the notable and well-funded startups in logistics segment are Delhivery, Rivigo, Cogoport, Shadowfax amongst several others.

The development was first reported by ET.