Delhivery buys out Indian biz of Dubai-based logistics firm Aramex

After foodtech and grocery, now consolidation in e-commerce logistics space is underway as Delhivery has acquired Indian business of Aramex, a Dubai-based logistics firm.

The Tiger Global-backed and soon to be a Unicorn will take over Aramex local operation from March 1, 2019. The amount involved in the deal could not be ascertained.

According to Aramex India country manager Hector Crasto, the company will continue the international business in the country but the local shipments in India will be done by Delhivery.

Aramex which has been doing last mile delivery via Mumbai-based Grab was more focused on courier services and has been facing a tough time in e-commerce logistics fulfillment.  This could be the reason behind selling its India business.

On the other hand, Delhivery will up the ante against its close rival in the space such as E-com, Blue Dart, Xpressbees, Shadowfax and several others.

The Sahil Barua led company is in talks with Softbank to raise $200-250 million in a fresh round.  Last month, the Japanese investment giant reached out to CCI to seek approval for acquiring a significant stake in the company.

Till date, Delhivery has raised about $260 million risk capital from the likes of Carlyle Group, Chinese diversified conglomerate Fosun International, Tiger Global Management and Times Internet.

The company was also in talks to raise a funding round from Alibaba. But talks could not materialised.

Launched in 2011 by Barua, Mohit Tandon, and Suraj Saharan and later joined by Bhavesh Manglani and Kapil Bharati,  Delhivery claims to service over 1,700 cities and 14,000 pin codes.

The logistics major has about 30 fulfillment centres in 12 cities for B2C and B2B services and works with companies like Flipkart, Amazon Paytm and several others.

For the financial year ending on March 31, 2018, Delhivery recorded a 42 per cent increase in the revenue from Rs 756.01 crore in FY17 to Rs 1073.64 crore.

Meanwhile, the losses incurred by the company, in return, increased by 8.5 per cent to Rs 692.22 crore in FY18 from Rs 637.83 crore in FY17.

The development was reported by ET.