Delhivery
Credits: Delhivery website

Delivery and e-commerce logistics company Delhivery has acquired Bengaluru-based Spoton Logistics in a bid to strengthen its business-to-business (B2B) segment ahead of its initial public offering (IPO).

The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed, and this comes over a month after Delhivery had raised $100 million from FedEx Express for its plans of global expansion.

“This development is consistent with our objective of being growth-oriented and building scale in each of our business lines,” Sahil Barua, CEO of Delhivery, said. “Over the last 10 years, Delhivery has established a leading position in B2C logistics, and now by combining our truckload business with Spoton’s, we will be on the path to the same position in B2B express as well.”

The nine-year-old Spoton Logistics is a well-known multimodal express logistics and supply chain solutions company founded after India Equity Partners (IEP) bought the domestic business from TNT India. Spoton’s pan-India network covers more than 300 locations and over 22,000 pin codes. With 13 major depots and 35 transit hubs, it ensures timely and secure movement of goods and services. It specializes in logistics services for sectors such as hi-tech, automotive, engineering, pharmaceuticals, electronics and electricals, e-commerce, and lifestyle and retail.

According to Spoton MD Abhik Mitra, the start-up will continue to invest in improving the businesses of its clients through its investments in people, infrastructure, network, and technology. “Spoton is known for its focus on customer relationships and service quality, professional management and technology, and engineering, which are values shared by Delhivery as well, and that sets us up to together be one of India’s leading logistics companies,” he said, adding, “Our teams and our business partners will have an opportunity to be part of a much larger organization with significant opportunities for growth.”

The ten-year-old Delhivery has been mulling over its $500-million IPO and is likely to launch it next year. Founded by Mohit Tandon, Sahil Barua, Bhavesh Manglani, Kapil Bharati, and Suraj Saharan, the start-up had raised $277 million in May in a funding round led by US-based investment firm Fidelity. After the funding round, Delhivery was valued at over $3 billion. The start-up had also acquired SaaS platform Primaseller this March and claims to have fulfilled more than 850 million transactions to date and works with over 10,000 direct customers.