BlackBuck Gets Rs 167 Crore In Series B Round

Bangalore-based B2B logistics startup BlackBuck has raised $25 million (Rs 167 crore) in a Series B funding round from Tiger Global Management Llc, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner’s personal investment firm Apoletto, Accel Partners and Flipkart

The company had raised $5 million from Accel Partners and Flipkart in June.

Founded in 2014 by IITian Rajesh Yabaji, Chanakya Hridaya and Ramasubramaniam, BlackBuck is an online marketplace for logistics transactions, helping customers move truck loads between cities.

“Transportation is the largest unorganized sector globally. In India, the freight industry is estimated at $100 Bn and contributes to 6 per cent of GDP. A majority of this is inter-city logistics. However, the commerce of this industry is unorganised, fragmented and conducted offline. BlackBuck has been formed to re-create logistics commerce with technology at its core, which would enable logistics be simple & effective,” said Rajesh Yabaji, co-founder & CEO at BlackBuck.

The startup brings truckers and customers on a single platform to execute transactions using intelligent auction engines equipped with smart mobile interfaces. The start-up also aims to become one of the largests player in the segment.

We will quickly become the largest transport company of India, especially in the full truck load segment," said Yabaji.

BlackBuck will utilise the funds to expand its team and services as well as build products.

With the new funding, BlackBuck's total capital raised adds up to $30 million, which Yabaji said makes the it the most well-funded startup in the global inter-city logistics market. US-based Trucker Path, which also operates in this market, has raised $21.5 million.

Blackbuck’s clients include both corporates and small businesses. Companies like Unilever, Britannia, Godrej, Marico and Jyothy Laboratories, besides firms like Asian Paints and EID Parry are among its clients.

Investors eye the logistic segment as a potential and is ready to invest more in start-ups like Blackbuck.

"There are over 4 million trucks serving the inter-city logistics market, and truckers typically own 3-5 vehicles, which makes the market highly inefficient and unorganised as there are multiple layers of brokers," said Anand Daniel, partner at Accel.