The growth of any economy largely depends on its logistics and supply chain infrastructure. India has been on a high growth trajectory for the past few years, and much of it can be attributed to the innovations of tech-driven logistics players.
Even as the pandemic hit the segment harder than others, it makes a strong comeback with startups trying to solve some sector-specific problems with innovative solutions. The one-size-fits-all concept is not applicable in the logistics space as the solutions differ from sector to sector. In this piece, we talk about three startups developing unparalleled products and services for the sectors they are catering to.
Agrigator
Founded by IIM Ahmedabad alumni Udit Sangwan and Charu Chaturvedi, Agrigator is India’s first on-spot logistics startup for non-perishable segments of the agricultural supply chain. Buyers and sellers of grains can use Agrigator’s platform to find trucks for transportation across India.
On-spot logistics is a fragmented business and covers almost 70% of the agri-logistic sector. Unlike contractual logistics, on-spot logistics is the way of business for lakhs of local mills and traders.
Today, as Agrigator’s network grows, the aggregator platform is now running on auto-pilot mode. With more customers joining the network, the startup has started facilitating its customers with trade and financing.
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The business revenue model is simple: the company charges a percentage for the service provided and runs a membership fee for premium services. The company’s target audiences are buyers and sellers of commodities all over the country, traders, local mills, industries, exporters, B2B, and Fleet owners.
The company opts for Amazon for trade, Uber for transportation, and NBFC for financing. Lately, the company began offering more than its competition, with brokers in the market at ground level intermediaries, Bijak at Marketplace and Agri-Financing, Delhivery and Truck Suvidha at Logistics Intermediary, agribazaar at a marketplace, aggregator at Agri logistics and Agri financing, and IndigoAG for abroad. The company has grown ten times and is enjoying more than 738% of revenue growth and building trade, having crossed 710% of GMV growth in the last year.
Biddano
Founded by Talha Shaikh and Ashok Yadav, Biddano is India’s largest healthcare supply chain platform focusing on delivering last-mile medicines and other medical equipment. The startup recognised that affordability and accessibility of medicines were the most significant challenges in the country’s healthcare ecosystem. Moreover, the challenges were especially more pronounced in the rural areas.
In 2018, the startup switched to a business-to-business model and connected local distributors with pharmacies to fulfil orders within three hours. It solves some significant challenges faced by distributors and pharmacists, such as unreliability and lack of an expiry management system for medicines.
Since the past year, the company has been on a massive expansion drive and is now offering services in over 18 Indian cities impacting the healthcare supply chain through its main products: Bkart and Shortbuk. The company is soon launching an app to integrate all its products and better serve every stakeholder in the healthcare supply chain ecosystem.
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Bkart is a tech-enabled logistics platform that consolidates and reduces delivery TAT from 24 hours to under 3 hours and helps solve delivery, accuracy, and reliability issues for the super distributors, distributors, and stockists. Shortbuk is its comprehensive daily procurement platform for pharmacies.
With its unique B2B marketplace (for chemists, stockists, distributors, and manufacturers), the company aims to expand into 51 cities with over 100K outlets. The launch operation will ensure 3000 active SKUs across the country and help generate projected revenue of INR 26 crore every month. The company currently has a network of 150K pharmacies.
Assiduous Global
If you believe that the world is your oyster, Assiduus Global, a startup founded by Dr Somdutta Singh, must be on your watchlist. It is the world’s fastest-growing AI-powered cross-border E-commerce accelerator.
Assiduous helps D2C brands launch, scale, and grow across global e-commerce marketplaces by enabling their digital commerce through end-to-end distribution and supply chain management. Assiduous boasts of a patent-pending, technology-backed e-commerce supply chain and distribution solutions helping its clients scale their businesses across five continents.
Also read: Supercharging B2B startups with SAP’s enterprise collaborations
CarterX
CarterX is a first of its kind tech driven DoorToDoor baggage service. It creates a complete digital platform for over 300 Million passengers annually in India alone with an access to supply their luggages to airport right from their doorstep. It combines the passenger’s interaction with the Airport and Airlines through its digital platform and the only company cleared by the Bureau of Civil Aviation to check-in right at your doorstep for Indigo, Vistara, Spicejet and AirAsia.
Currently operational at 4 major airports, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad that cater to 83% of the air traveler market. It has a mandate to add four more into their portfolio and expand their coverage.
The market for airport luggage services is $ 6 Billion and CarterX aims to scale to a revenue of $73 Million over the next 5 years. The service aims to skip the queues at the airport or simply send your luggage from one city to another with a secure transparent service backbone. CarterX has identified a new service vertical of luggage transfer to the airport terminals and supply the airport ecosystem to the passenger’s doorstep on the onset domestically and then scale internationally.
The company has raised $ 1 Million and are looking to raise our Series A with $3 Million dollars to achieve 33% market share.
To get to know these four groundbreaking startups better, catch Demo Day 2 (DDay2) organised by Venture Catalysts and 9Unicorns. You can access the showcase by registering here.
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Photo by Tom Fisk
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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Venture Catalysts and 9Unicorns
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