BlackBuck scores $43 Mn from Goldman Sachs and others; valuation shoots up by 5X

Logistics companies are having a ball this year as three leading logistics startups collectively raised close to $500 million within the past two months.

After Rivigo and Delhivery, BlackBuck has raised around a little over $43 million (Rs 303.32 crore) in a fresh round led by new investor Goldman Sachs.

The latest round will also see the participation of Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin-owned venture B Capital. According to RoC Filings, Goldman Sachs will contribute Rs 214.11 crore ($30.6 million approx) out of total capital raised, B Capital will pour in the rest of the Rs 89.21 crore.

To raise this fund the company issued 15,668 Series D CCPS at an approximate price of Rs 1.94 lakhs each. Goldman Sachs and B Capital purchased 11,060 and 4,608 of these shares respectively.

As per a valuation report calculated at the end of December 2018, BlackBuck is estimated to be valued around $844 million. Before this, the valuation of the firm as at the end of March 2018 stood at around $169 million.

A TechCircle estimation says that the company is currently valued in the range of $860.70-879.34 million.

Blackbuck is now marginally behind its rival Rivigo in terms of valuation. The Warburg Pincus and SAIF Partners-backed firm is reportedly being valued $900 in a fresh round.

For the past few months, the firm has reportedly been in talks with Softbank and Naspers to raise about $200 million. Though, there was no official clarification whether the current round is part of a larger round in the making.

Since October last year, the logistics firm has been raising capital in multiple tranches at regular intervals. Till date, the logistics firm has raised close to $179 million from Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Sands Capital, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Yuri Milner-backed Apoletto.

In October 2018 the first week it had raised Rs 202 crore from Sequoia and Accel. Two months later in late December, it had received Rs 87.03 crore from Sands Capital and International Finance Corporation where Sands had led the tranche.

Four-year-old logistics firm provides B2B logistics solutions for long-haul trucking. It brings together shippers and truckers through its online marketplace to facilitate inter-city freight transportation.

In FY 18, BlackBuck had recorded a 59.1 per cent hike in revenue, up from Rs 566.83 crore in FY17 to Rs 901.9 crore. During the same period, its losses also rose to Rs 1,16.71 crore, up from Rs 86.51 crore in FY17.

Ever since the beginning this year, logistics companies have been raising big rounds one after another. Rivigo raised $50 million at a valuation of $900 million in February 2019 while SoftBank committed to lead $395 million Series F funding round in Delhivery.

The development was first reported by VCCircle.