Zomato-backed Shiprocket is the latest entrant to India's unicorn club

BigFoot Retail Solutions-owned Shiprocket has made it to India's coveted unicorn club after raising Rs 260 crore (around $33 million). Existing investors Temasek Holdings and Lightrock India invested Rs 78 crore and Rs 75 crore in the latest funding round. Other players who were part of the financing round included Bertelsmann Nederland, March Venture Capital Management Services LLC, Moore Strategic Ventures LLC, Huddle Collective and Paypal Inc. 

Shiprocket's board approved the sale of 59,793 Series E2 Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) for Rs 43,394.13 each at a meeting on 10 August. The logistics platform had last raised 185 million as part of its Series E round in December 2021. Zomato, Temasek and Lightrock led this investment. 

Shiprocket is India's 106th unicorn after blockchain start-up 5ire made it to the list on 15 July this year. While talking at an industry event earlier this month, Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology, claimed that India has 105 unicorns, of which 44 were founded in 2021 and 19 in 2022.

Gautam Kapoor, Saahil Goel and Vishesh Khurana founded Shiprocket in 2017 to offer logistics services to India's small and medium-sized businesses, direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands and ecommerce sellers. Currently servicing over 29,000 pin codes in India, the company's annual filings for FY2020-21 showed that its operating revenue was Rs 358.01 crore, which was a 122 per cent growth over the previous fiscal.

Last month, Shiprocket acquired omnichannel commerce company Arvind Internet Limited's technology business, Omuni, for Rs 200 crore in a stock and cash deal. In June, it picked a majority stake in Pickrr, an ecommerce software-as-a-service platform for D2C brands and SME e-tailers, for around Rs 1,560 crore. This year, it also acquired three other companies—Glaucus Supply Chain Solutions, Rocketbox and Wigzo Technologies.