Led · Series E · Feb 2024

Shadowfax operates a unified last-mile logistics platform serving hyper-local and on-demand delivery businesses, including quick-commerce firms and D2C brands. The company’s network reaches over 2,500 cities and more than 15,000 zip codes, making over 2 million package deliveries each day and serving 3.5 million registered users. It runs a logistics and delivery workforce of over 125,000 monthly active delivery personnel and reports it has not lost a customer in five years. Shadowfax says it has remained profitable while growing at a 35% annual rate, driven by wider adoption of quick-commerce in India. The startup works with clients such as Flipkart, Meesho and numerous direct-to-consumer brands and is focused on scaling instant and same-day delivery capabilities. Founded in 2015 by Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal, Shadowfax operates a tech-enabled logistics network offering hyper-local, same-day, and next-day deliveries across more than 150 cities and towns. The company serves clients including Amazon, Swiggy, BigBasket, Nykaa, and Paytm. Fidelity International is its largest investor, holding roughly a 37% stake, and local reports have valued the company at about USD 200–250 million. Shadowfax says it will invest in onboarding more kirana (mom-and-pop) stores onto its platform and build automated warehouses across the top 10 cities to enable backward integration and end-to-end service. Management has publicly stated plans to grow 10x over the next four years and to pursue an eventual public listing. The business positions itself as a provider of on-demand logistics and hyperlocal fulfilment technology for e-commerce and grocery players. Shadowfax Technologies is a Bengaluru-based on-demand delivery startup that connects micro-entrepreneurs, suppliers and customers across grocery, food, fashion and electronics through a singular logistics platform. Co-founded in 2015 by Abhishek Bansal (CEO) and Vaibhav Khandelwal, the platform uses an AI-based location stream processing engine called Frodo to optimize routing, costs and service levels. It operates a crowd-sourced network of more than 30,000 delivery partners and says it delivers more than 90,000 unique orders every day. The company intends to use the $22m Series C to scale operations and is projecting 150% year-on-year growth for the next five years. Shadowfax aims to connect 4 lakh new businesses and delivery partners by 2021, up from the current 40,000 connections. The company previously raised $18.5m from Eight Roads Ventures in 2015 and 2016 and acquired hyperlocal delivery business Nuvo Logistics Pvt Ltd last year. Shadowfax Technologies is a Gurgaon-based hyperlocal delivery service operating in the Delhi-NCR region. The company provides a technology-driven merchant delivery framework including integrated GPS tracking, automated routing algorithms, restaurant-preparation-time logic, automatic rider scheduling, app communication, instant feedback, geo-based tracking and location-based rider allocation. Shadowfax reports about 35 employees, 350 riders, serves 120–150 restaurant partners and claims roughly 3,000 orders per day. It was launched in May this year by Abhishek Bansal (an IIT Delhi alumnus) and Vaibhav Khandelwal, with management emphasizing technology to improve last-mile delivery efficiency. Shadowfax raised around Rs 1.90 crore ($300,000) in angel funding and will use the proceeds to expand into 10 more cities by year-end. The company also plans to broaden its logistics infrastructure beyond food delivery into multiple categories.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2015

Ujjivan Financial Services was founded in 2005 to provide responsible access to formal credit for base-of-the-pyramid communities. It offers group-lending microfinance products historically targeted at women and has expanded into individual micro-entrepreneur loans for equipment, livestock and other needs. Ujjivan has helped more than two million unbanked and under-banked customers and operates 423 branches across 24 states, with major presence in Karnataka, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The firm runs social development and financial-literacy programs (225 social programs reaching over 346,700 beneficiaries in 2014; 242,421 enrolled in financial literacy, with 82% graduation and 77,382 new bank accounts). Ujjivan was one of the first MFIs in India to receive SMART certification for client protection, and its founder Samit Ghosh is president of the Microfinance Institution Network (MFIN). As part of an equity financing round of INR 6,000m that includes secondary transactions, the company is raising capital to expand its geographic footprint and increase lending. Ujjivan Financial Services is a Bangalore-based microfinance institution focused on providing financial services to the urban and semi-urban poor. The company completed a fourth round of equity infusion, raising Rs 94 crore in an oversubscribed placement. The new capital will increase its paid-up capital and reserves to over Rs 108 crore, making Ujjivan the fourth highest capitalised microfinance institution in India. Proceeds are earmarked for major expansion plans over the next year and to meet enhanced capital adequacy norms set by the Reserve Bank of India. The transaction also included a mechanism to provide liquidity to individual investors, supporting the company’s effort to balance social mission with market-driven private equity. Grameen Capital India served as the exclusive equity advisor on the deal.