Agility, a supply chain services, infrastructure, and innovation company, announced that its venture capital arm, Agility Ventures, has invested in Shiprocket, India’s leading tech-enabled last-mile delivery aggregator and order management platform, based in New Delhi.
Agility’s 2021 investment, through its Agility Ventures corporate venture capital arm, was used to help fund Shiprocket’s expansion in the Middle East. Since then, Agility has worked to connect Shiprocket with regional and local logistics players and partners, vendors, and others in its corporate ecosystem.
Shiprocket has attracted investment from multiple global and Indian venture capital firms and e-commerce service providers since it was established in 2017. The company simplifies last-mile delivery by consolidating invoices, offering more affordable prices, and locating the fastest, most reliable couriers. Its fulfillment service manages the storage, picking, and packing of merchants’ goods across India. Shiprocket also offers integration with Amazon, Shopify, Magento, and other major marketplaces and sellers. Its products lower return costs, reduce delivery delays and errors, and provide tracking and alerts.
Henadi Al-Saleh, Agility Chairperson and head of Agility Ventures, announced the investment, saying it was part of Agility’s strategy to expand its leadership in digital logistics and e-commerce in high-growth markets through in-house development, acquisitions, and investment in innovative startups.
Al-Saleh said Shiprocket has the “first-mover advantage” in India’s potentially massive e-commerce market and has built successful products for which there is a growing appetite in the Middle East/North Africa, including post-checkout services for smaller digital sellers.
“Shiprocket has excelled by building cutting-edge products that solve major logistics problems for business customers as they scale, much like PayPal supported merchants with payments solutions. It has also managed to plug a big hole in the B2C e-commerce space by offering customers of direct-to-consumer brands a seamless post-checkout experience that includes delivery,” Al-Saleh said.
Akshay Ghulati, Co-Founder of Shiprocket, said: “The Middle East is a key market for Shiprocket and we are working towards providing the best technology solutions for e-commerce sellers, D2C brands and SMEs in the region via our Shiprocket Direct and Wigzo platforms. We are excited to welcome Agility as an investor in Shiprocket and look forward to working with them as we look to grow in the region.”
Agility Ventures has invested in e-commerce innovation companies in the United States, India, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, among them Bread, Eunimart, ExpandCart, and Zid. Agility’s Shipa E-Commerce and Shipa Delivery companies are leaders in cross-border e-commerce and delivery in the Gulf. Shipa Freight and iContainers, also owned by Agility, offer instant online air and ocean freight bookings and tools for small businesses to manage logistics.