Logistics software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform FarEye on Tuesday said it has raised $100 million in a Series E round led by US-based investors Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) and Dragoneer Investment Group, as the covid-19 pandemic accelerates the need for enterprises to scale their supply chain operations efficiently to meet the rising share of online deliveries.
As part of the transaction, Gopi Vaddi, general partner at TCV, will join FarEye’s board of directors. TCV, a long-time backer of Netflix Inc., made its first investment in India earlier this year, with Dream Sports. FarEye is its second investment in the country.
Existing investors Eight Roads Ventures, Nandan Nilekani’s growth capital fund Fundamentum Partnership, and Honeywell also participated in the funding round.
The delivery management firm said funds will be used to enable businesses to provide Amazon Prime-like delivery experiences and redefine how products are delivered across diverse logistics networks. It will also focus on expanding its software platform capabilities, drive European and North American expansion and continue to hire.
Eight-year-old FarEye, which was founded by Kushal Nahata, Gaurav Srivastava and Gautam Kumar, addressed a multi-billion-dollar delivery management market that continues to see sharp growth.
“We will be using part of the funding to explore acquisition opportunities in the product and logistics SaaS space to create more value. We will be investing heavily in product and technology and want to have the entire delivery experience autonomous. We want to build the kind of delivery capabilities that Amazon has developers as the largest e-commerce company, in terms of the experience, choice that it offers customers. As a platform, we want to democratize the delivery experience for our partner brands,” said Kushal Nahata, CEO and co-founder, FarEye said in an interview with Mint.
The funding is very timely for the delivery and logistics sector as we have seen consumers spending $861 billion online with U.S. retailers in 2020, up 44% from $598 billion in 2019, Nahata added.
FarEye currently serves global enterprises across retailers, manufacturers and third-party logistics providers and carriers, such as DHL, Amway, Domino’s, Walmart, Posti, Gordon Foods, UPS, among others. Its platform processes over 100 million monthly transactions, supports over 25,000 drivers, and is integrated into a network of over two million vehicles. FarEye’s growth has accelerated over the last 12 months with particularly strong traction in Europe and North America. These markets collectively account for over half of its revenue.
“The logistics and supply chain industry are going through a long-awaited, software-led creative disruption, led by emerging leaders like FarEye that provide multi-tenant SaaS platforms with low code configuration to enhance visibility to the enterprise and deliver superlative last mile experiences for the end consumer. We have been impressed with FarEye’s platform capabilities and their long-term vision as a key enabler for digital transformation in logistics,” said TCV’s Vaddi said.
Last August, FarEye raised $13 million as an extension to its Series D round, taking the total funding in the round to $37.5 million, led by Fundamentum Partnership and Korea’s largest investment firm KB Global Platform Fund.
“FarEye’s leading delivery management platform provides impressive visibility and control across the supply chain, which has never been more critical for retailers, manufacturers and 3PLs,” said Eric Jones, Partner at Dragoneer Investment Group. “We look forward to partnering with FarEye as they continue to redefine how products are delivered across diverse logistics networks and expand their footprint in Europe and North America.”
This article was first published on livemint.com