Porter Raises INR 750 Cr From Tiger Global Management And Vitruvian Partners The company will leverage this capital infusion to consolidate its position, focus on acquiring talent, and expanding operations to enter the top 35 cities of India by 2023, further strengthening its position as a leader in the logistics market, the platform said
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Porter, a tech-based, on-demand, intra-city logistics company on Monday announced to have raised INR 750 crore in its Series E funding round led by Tiger Global Management and Vitruvian Partners, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Lightrock India.
IndigoEdge acted as the exclusive financial adviser to Porter in this funding round.
The company will leverage this capital infusion to consolidate its position, focus on acquiring talent and expand operations to enter the top 35 cities of India by 2023, further strengthening its position as a leader in the logistics market.
"We are excited to welcome the two marquee global funds with a great track record of backing enduring businesses world over. This funding round, in the current economic scenario, is a testament of the execution of the entire Porter team. The idea behind Porter was to solve the existing market gap between demand and supply by creating a tech-enabled liquid marketplace to drive better vehicle utilization and service levels for our users. Over the years, we have realized that apart from being a great business opportunity, we have a chance to make a positive impact on the lives of over 2 lakh driver-partners. Everyday still feels like we are at day 1 in this exciting journey, and we are grateful to have partners who share our vision," said Pranav Goel, chief executive officer, Porter.
Porter's marketplace results in massive benefits to all stakeholders. Drivers earn 30 per cent more, customers save 20 per cent on logistics cost and have a better experience with lower wait times and higher availability. Porter is also one of the only logistics models that is 100 per cent asset-light and have a negative working capital cycle, the company said.
"In a challenging market, Porter has developed excellent repeat driver and customer cohorts, demonstrating the platform's unique value. We are excited to partner with Porter as it reinvents and markedly improves intra-city logistics across India," shared Griffin Schroeder, partner, Tiger Global.
"We at Vitruvian Partners are committed to supporting the most ambitious and talented entrepreneurs and companies to achieve their vision. Porter has built a leadership position frugally in the fast-growing intracity market. Impressed by their high growth rate with profitable unit economics and metrics that are comparable to leading businesses world over, we couldn't be happier to have started our journey with Porter and are hoping to see new milestones being made in the coming years," mentioned Peter Read, cortex partner, Vitruvian Partners.
"Today it is hard to not see a Porter partner vehicle on the road in any major Indian city. Pranav, Uttam, Vikas, and the team have built a way for businesses to transport more efficiently and deliver a better livelihood for driver-partners. Sequoia Capital India is thrilled to invest in this new round and welcome new partners in Vitruvian and Tiger," commented Shailesh Lakhani, managing director, Sequoia India.
"We have been extremely delighted to have backed the Porter team as they have built the Company as a testament to the fact that scaling fast can go hand-in-hand with building a disciplined systems-driven business. This is a result of a remarkable combination of deep empathy to their driver-partners, data-driven decision making, and a lofty ambition demonstrated by the Porter team," added Vaidhehi Ravindran, partner, Lightrock India.
Porter has consistently achieved triple-digit annual growth since its launch in 2014 and has been growing faster with scale as network effects play out. The company now has a presence in over 13 cities across India with more than 50 lakh customers and over 2 lakh owner-drivers on board. Porter has created disruption in various domains of logistics by launching an on-demand marketplace for LCVs and bikes, Porter for Enterprise, and Packers & Movers.
