Tech-enabled logistics management startup FarEye, operated by RoboticWares Pvt. Ltd, is raising about $24.5 million in its Series D funding round led by Microsoft’s corporate venture fund M12.
According to the company’s filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) sourced by Paper.vc, M12 will subscribe to 40,866 compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) of RoboticWares for about $9.99 million.
Honeywell Venture Capital LLC and Eight Roads Ventures India III LP are each infusing $4.99 million for 20,438 Series D CCPS of the company. Meanwhile, SAIF Partners India V Ltd will contribute about $4.49 million in the current funding round.
Founded in 2013 by Kushal Nahata, Gautam Kumar and Gaurav Srivastava, FarEye is a SaaS mobility platform that was launched with an aim to solve the complicated last-mile delivery issues on a mobile platform. Through FarEye’s automation software, companies can schedule and dispatch jobs, monitor execution and analyse performance in real-time.
FarEye last received Rs 61.5 crore in Series C financing from Germany’s Deutsche Post DHL Group in February 2018. It had raised $3.5 million from venture capital firm SAIF Partners in a Series A round of funding in June 2016. Prior to that, it had raised an undisclosed amount of angel investment from the Indian Angel Network.
In November 2018, RoboticWares had also acquired freight logistics marketplace Dipper Technologies in a cash and stock transaction.
The logistics space in India has been attracting tremendous investor interest.
In December, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings had invested $10 million in Pune-based e-commerce logistics startup XpressBees. In another deal the same month, UK’s development financial institution CDC Group had closed an equity investment of $36 million in Ecom Express. A month prior, BlackBuck has raised about $7.8 million (Rs 56 crore) in a mix of debt and equity funding from venture debt fund Trifecta Capital.
Last September, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) announced that it had invested $115 million in SoftBank-and Carlyle-backed Indian logistics startup Delhivery Pvt Ltd, in a bid to broaden its exposure in the country’s logistics sector.
Meanwhile, Porter is in talks to raise $30 million in its ongoing funding round, which values it at about $120 million, Mint reported this February.