Technology-enabled logistics unicorn Rivigo has raised USD 3.46 million in debt funding from homegrown venture debt firm Trifecta Capital, as it looks to raise Series F round of USD 20 million at a valuation of USD 1.1 billion.
According to a report by local media Entrackr, Rivigo has issued non-convertible debentures to Trifecta. Citing the regulatory filing, the report said the non-convertible debentures have a tenure of 24 months and carry a fixed rate of 14.25%, to be paid monthly. So far, Rivigo has raised about USD 250 million, according to the business information platform Crunchbase. Its major investors include Warburg Pincus, SAIF Partner, and KB Global.
The Gurugram-based company crossed a billion US dollar valuation in September 2019 after raising USD 4.9 from the South Korean venture capital firm KB Global Platform Fund.
Founded by Gazal Kalra and Deepak Garg in 2014, Rivigo offers delivery services to businesses in industries including e-commerce, pharmaceutical, automobile, and fast-moving consumer goods. The company owns a fleet of over 5,000 trucks, which have altogether completed over half a million trips spanning about 4,000 Indian cities. It works on a patented ‘relay trucking’ model, which ensures each truck driver drives for a maximum of four-to-five hours in one shift and hands over the vehicle to another driver at a designated pin stop so as to reach home the same day. The model makes sure trucks are not idle at any point in the journey, which leads to resource optimization.
In comparison, its rival Blackbuck, which was set up in 2015 and has a valuation of about USD 900 million, runs on an asset-light model. Blackbuck doesn’t own any trucks and connects enterprises to freight owners through its digital marketplace platform, and claims to have on-boarded 300,000 trucks and more than 60,000 fleet owners.
Trifecta Capital, a five-year-old venture debt company, set up by Nilesh Kothari and Rahul Khanna, has invested in both logistics companies, Rivigo and Blackbuck. The latter had reportedly raised USD 7.83 from the Gurugram-based venture firm in mixed equity and debt in November 2019.
So far, Trifecta has invested in about 45 Indian startups, and raised over USD 2.7 billion from investees, according to the company website. Some of its portfolio companies include hyperlocal delivery platform Bigbasket, ethnic drinks brand Paper Boat, online furniture startup Urban Ladder, and drone company ideaForge.
Logistics was one of the top-funded sectors last year, and the trend is likely to continue given the growth of online commerce and B2B startups. While Morgan Stanley predicts the B2C e-commerce market will reach USD 200 billion by 2026-27 in the world’s second-most populous country, a recent report by consulting firm Redseer projects India’s online B2B market to cross USD 60 billion in 2025.