Logistics-tech startup StackBOX has completed a funding round of $1.2 million led by CMM Group and Ecosystem Ventures. The Bengaluru-based company works with B2B e-commerce, FMCG, cash and carry companies to solve their last mile issues. There are a lot of inefficiencies in the food and FMCG retail distribution as no one has used technology to solve this problem at scale, Venktesh Kumar, managing director, StackBOX, said. “We are bringing visibility and efficiency by digitising B2B last mile delivery (to kiranas) and automation and tech interventions are key to drive this,” Kumar added.
StackBOX has a customer base consisting of Flipkart, ITC, P&G, Dabur, Britannia, Udaan, among others. In the last 12 months, its revenue has grown four times, the company claimed in a statement. Currently, it is operational in Hyderabad, Delhi NCR, Chennai and delivers more than 50,000 orders to retailers per month. The company plans to utilise the fresh funds to set up more fulfillment centers to service customers in different geographies.
While India’s general trade market comprising kirana stores still accounts for 75% of FMCG sales despite the growth of ecommerce and hypermarkets, StackBOX is setting up a network of multi-brand micro fulfillment centers, cross docks and dark stores.
“StackBOX not only has a huge opportunity to capture the $800 billion Indian retail market but is also making inroads into international markets with their FMCG focused last-mile distribution solutions, ” Abhijeet Bhandari, co-founder, Ecosystem Ventures, said.
Usually every brand has a separate supply chain to serve the same set of retailers through distributors. The logistics-tech startup is looking at building a single, combined super-pipeline to deliver to all these retailers, Shanmukha Boora, co-founder, StackBOX said. “This removes all the redundancies and brings in efficiency by scale. In order to do that, we need to look at the supply chain of B2B from first principles thinking,” Boora noted.
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