[Funding] Blackbuck joins the unicorn club with $67 Million from Tribe Capital and others

Online trucking startup BlackBuck has raised Series E funding of $67 million. With this funding, its valuation is now over $1 billion. It is also the 16th Indian startup in 2021 to join the unicorn club after BrowserStack's $200 Mn raise valuing it at $4Bn. Tribe Capital, IFC Emerging Asia Fund, and VEF led the round. Existing investors Wellington Management, Sands Capital, and IFC also participated in the round. The company stated that it will use these funds to further penetrate the market. It will also launch new service offerings for its customer base. It plans to invest heavily in product and data science capabilities; to enable more efficient freight matching for the Indian trucking ecosystem.

Talking of the fundraise, Rajesh Yabaji, Co-Founder and CEO of BlackBuck, said, “BlackBuck started with a dream to re-imagine trucking; to make it 10X simple and 10X efficient. It has been six years and we are just getting started to make a difference.”

He further added, “We continue to dedicate ourselves for the foreseeable future to solve fundamental Indian trucking problems. The new financing round gives us more firepower to invest in fundamentally hard trucking problems; while we continue deepening our reach and impact.”

Support from investors

Impressed with Blackbuck, Saadia Khairi, Fund Head, IFC Emerging Asia Fund said, “At the IFC Emerging Asia Fund, we are excited to partner with BlackBuck in its next phase of growth. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, BlackBuck has scaled its online freight marketplace and fleet management services rapidly. BlackBuck’s contribution to increased transparency and efficiency in the large, fragmented, and predominantly unorganized long-haul freight market in India offers the potential for significant developmental impact.”

Arjun Sethi, Co-founder, and Partner at Tribe Capital, also, augmented Blackbuck. He said, “India's supply chain and logistics industry is moving from paper and pencil to digital. BlackBuck’s ability to measure output and productivity growth has streamlined logistical challenges for the industry over a short time frame. Its continued high-velocity growth promises to bring even greater transformation to the Indian trucking ecosystem.”

The startup stated it currently drives over 90% of the market share of all online trucking activity. BlackBuck digitizes fleet operations for truckers. It also helps match trucks with relevant loads through its marketplace. Moreover, the platform has close to 700,000+ truckers and over 1.2 million trucks on its platform. Further, it sees over $15 million in monthly transactions. With over 1.2 million trucks on its platform, it operates pan India across 700+ districts and 1,000+ industrial hubs; thus, enabling smooth and efficient trucking operations. Currently, the company has over 10,000 customers, including SMEs and large corporates. Some prominent names include Hindustan Unilever, Reliance, Coca-Cola, Asian Paints, Tata, Vedanta, L&T, and Jindal.