Logistics and supply chain is perhaps one area, where the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare, the massive impact that an ever-so connected globally supply chain has to bear in catastrophic global situation. Needless to say, the supply chain woes that the world continues to find ways to repair, will need innovations, well ahead of time, in order to insure damage against any such events in the future.
Locus, the AI and machine learning powered supply chain automation platform, seems to have cracked the innovation hurdle, a fact further warranted today through a $50Mn Series C that the company just announced. The round was led by GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, with participation from Qualcomm Ventures LLC and existing investors Tiger Global and Falcon Edge. Noted angel investors Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs, Kunal Shah, CEO of Cred, Raju Reddy, founder of Sierra Atlantic, and Deb Deep Sengupta, former President & MD, SAP South Asia, also participated in the round.
Locus uses deep machine learning and proprietary algorithms to offer smart supply chain solutions to customers. The upstart claims to have resulted in $150 million+ savings in logistics costs, 70 million+ kms. reductions in distance traveled, and 17 million+ kgs. reduction in GHG emissions for clients across sectors like e-commerce, retail, e-grocery, CPG/FMCG, home services, home deliveries, 3PL, transportation, and B2B distribution. And the fact that a strong and scalable innovation in supply chain comes from India, makes this even better. India probably has one of the most complicated supply chains, representing a mix of both automated as well as frugal and rudimentary systems.
With fresh capital in, Locus is now looking to further expand in the Americas. “We are now looking to support our customers with a global footprint. Other than the geographies we are already present in, we are also investing heavily in Latin America and aggressively building our presence there,” said CEO Nishith Rastogi. Locus works with top clients across North America, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Indian subcontinent, and has been on an expansion spree in the Americas.
Locus’ smart supply chain solutions provide end-to-end visibility and enable enterprises to enhance their operational efficiency by reining costs, streamlining the customer experience, and reducing environmental impact. Some of these scalable solutions include route optimization, real-time tracking and analytics, sales beat optimization, territory planning, vehicle allocation and network design.
Previously, the company had raised nearly $30Mn across multiple rounds.
