Xpressbees, a logistics company and unicorn, owned by BusyBees Logistics Solutions, has acquired TrackOn Couriers, marking its first acquisition. However, the deal size was not disclosed by the company.
Pune-based Xpressbees provides end-to-end supply chain solutions and currently runs its delivery operations across 21,000 pin codes, and around 3,000 cities and towns in the country.
This acquisition will enable Xpressbees to tap into the small- and medium-sized enterprises sector by leveraging Trackon’s franchisee network. Xpressbees founder Amitava Saha said this collaboration between two leading industry names would enable them to build significant synergies across the two organisations and change consumer experience for the better.
PK Anand, chairman and managing director, Trackon, said the partnership with Xpressbees would enable them to scale up their business and reach significantly. “By combining our experience with the capabilities of Xpressbees, we will be able to expand our service lines to our existing clients,” Anand said.
Trackon is a 21-year-old company providing express delivery services in India and across the globe, handling 200,000 consignments to 5,000 pin codes every day. Trackon’s FY22 revenues stood at Rs 283 crore with profit at Rs 8.22 crore.
Xpressbees’ Saha had said in an earlier interaction that the company is on track to become a leading end-to-end logistics player in the country. The company’s strategy is to follow an asset-light franchise model coupled with technology deployment across all its functions to take the lead in the logistics business in India, Saha had said.
Xpressbees raised $300 million (around Rs 2,250 crore) in February 2022 from Blackstone, TPG and ChrysCapital to become a unicorn with the valuation of around $1.2 billion. Avendus Future Leaders Fund made a secondary investment of Rs 195 crore in Xpressbees last year. The Avendus Funds’ first series has invested in Delhivery among other companies. In April this year, Xpressbees raised $40 million from Khazanah Nasional Berhad, a sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia, through a secondary purchase. Khazanah acquired a 2.9% stake in Xpressbees from Elevation Capital at a valuation of $1.4 billion.
Xpressbees delivers over two million packages per day with a network comprising 100 hubs across India, three million sq ft of warehouse capacity and operates across 52 airports in the country. Xpressbees posted a revenue of Rs 1,850 in FY22 and is expecting to be Ebitda positive, Rahul Agrawal, chief financial officer, XpressBees, had said. The FY23 revenue growth is estimated to be at 60-70%.
XpressBees, founded by Saha and Supam Maheshwari, was earlier a part of FirstCry, an omnichannel retailer of baby and mother care products. FirstCry became a unicorn in 2020. The logistics division, XpressBees, was spun off into a separate entity that operates in the B2C, B2B, 3PL and cross-border logistics.
The open network for digital commerce (ONDC) is expected to open up supplies from small cities and towns to the metros, and change the dynamics of the logistics industry. At present, everything comes from metros to the towns but there will be a reversal with the new open network with more sellers and buyers joining in from the hinterland and selling to the metros. Xpressbees is positioning itself to service this market without having to make any additional investments.