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The call for digitalization has certainly upped the startup ecosystem and has made the companies reach out to their target customers with products and services online. Along with the startups and the established brands and businesses, the growing digitalization has also been constantly empowering the entrepreneurs and other individuals to advertise and broadcast themselves online via diverse social media apps. Here, it's true that reaching the masses virtually or via the online route has become easy but delivering them at their doorsteps and within a specific deadline has constantly been challenging.
However, with the emergence of hyperlocal delivery apps and companies like Shadowfax, the world is truly turning into an easily navigable place with satisfied customers.
The Bengaluru-based hyperlocal delivery service, Shadowfax, promises speedy, secure and convenient deliveries that are empowered by cutting-edge technologies and a peerless network. Founded in 2015, the company has steered to become India's largest hyperlocal delivery platform, as per its website, which offers on-demand hyperlocal delivery with improved delivery analytics.
Here's more about the Shadowfax company, Shadowfax Founders and Team, Delivery, Funding and Investors, Challenges, Competitors, Logo, Mission and Vision, Acquisition and more.
Shadowfax - Company Highlights
| Startup Name | Shadowfax |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Bengaluru, India |
| Industry | Courier , Logistics |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Founders | Abhishek Bansal, Vaibhav Khandelwal, Gaurav Jaithliya and Praharsh Chandra |
| CEO | Abhishek Bansal |
| Products | Delivery, express mail, third-party logistics, Supply Chain |
| Funding | $100 mn (2022) |
| Revenue | $62.04 mn (Rs 464 crore in FY21) |
| Area Served | India |
| Website | www.shadowfax.in |
Shadowfax - Recent News
- Shadowfax Offers $5 Mn ESOPs Buyback For Its Employees
- Flipkart Leverages Shadowfax Investment; Takes On Dunzo With Hyperlocal Delivery Services
- Shadowfax puts a hold on the expansion of cloud kitchen biz, lets go of 50 employees
Shadowfax - About and How it Works?
Shadowfax - Founders and Team
Shadowfax - Startup Story
Shadowfax - Mission and Vision
Shadowfax - Name and Tagline
Shadowfax - Logo and its Meaning
Shadowfax - Business Model and Revenue Model
Shadowfax - Revenue and Growth
Shadowfax - Funding and Investors
Shadowfax - Acquisitions
Shadowfax - Awards and Recognitions
Shadowfax - Competitors
Shadowfax - Challenges Faced
Shadowfax - Future Plans
Shadowfax - FAQs
Shadowfax - About and How it Works?
Shadowfax is a provider of an on-demand hyperlocal delivery platform that intends to help merchants to focus on their core business by outsourcing last-mile delivery services. The company manages to do so efficiently by an in-depth analysis of the delivery data, order tracking, and accessing the consumer insights. Shadowfax Technologies serves the customers in India.
The company's platform offers tech-enabled one-stop delivery services for E-commerce, restaurants, FMCG, pharmacy companies, online and offline retailers along with empowering the businesses with cutting-edge technology in terms of logistics and an access to a reliable delivery network, to make fast adn efficient delivery possible.
Within a short period, Shadowfax has become one of India’s largest last-mile delivery platforms with more than 50,000 delivery partners network. The last mile logistics network that Shadowfax offers is tech-enabled and emerges as a one-stop delivery solution. The unique app of Shadowfax helps effortless delivery of food, grocery, pharmacy, and e-commerce products for businesses and individuals, thereby delighting the customers for real.
With its feature-rich technology and an unmatched network, Shadowfax benefits the brands as well as the riders, making swifter deliveries possible.
Advantages for the Brands:
- Shadowfax makes customized deliveries possible
- With an in-demand rider network, Shadowfax promises to meet the fluctuating business requirements
- Home delivery of products across multiple categories
Advantages for the Riders:
- Shadowfax extends flexibility of rides
- With a single app that the riders need to handle, they can make the most of a day
- Shadowfax boasts of faster payouts and unlimited opportunities to earn for the riders
The Shadowfax clients include Domino's, Big Basket, Amazon, PayTM, Flipkart, Myntra, McDonald’s, 1MG, and many other smaller restaurants, merchants, and retailers. The company currently boasts of having over 100 brand partners.
Shadowfax - Founders and Team
Shadowfax was initially founded by IIT-Delhi alumni Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal in April 2015, after which they were joined by two more IIT Delhi alumni - Gaurav Jaithliya, and Praharsh Chandra.
Abhishek Bansal
Abhishek Bansal graduated from IIT Delhi with a Btech in Production and Industrial Engineering. After working for Hay Group for 2 years as a Business Anlyst and an Associate Consultant, Bansal co-founded Shadowfax, where he still serves as the Co-founder and CEO.
Vaibhav Khandelwal
Vaibhav Khandelwal was also a student of IIT Delhi, from where he completed his Btech in Electrical, Electronics and Communication Engineering. Starting as a Research Intern at Adobe, Khandelwal served as a System Two Advisors, LP at Research Analyst. However, he left the job within a year of joining and eventually decided to co-found Shadowfax with Bansal. Vaibhav is currently serving as the Co-founder and CTO of Shadowfax.
Gaurav Jaithliya
Gaurav Jaithliya was also a student of IIT Delhi, from where he completed his Dual Degree in Mathematics and Computing. GulfTalent was the first company that Gaurav joined, after which he joined Shadowfax as a Co-founder and the Chief of Business Strategy and he is still serving the role.
Praharsh Chandra
Praharsh Chandra was a Mechanical Engineering student, who completed his Btech degree from the IIT Delhi, much like the other co-foudners and then interned at HUL. After interning for around 3 months, Chandra joined A.T. Kearney. He worked with the company for around 2 years as a Business Analyst and a Senior Business Analyst, eventually leaving it and co-founding ShadowFax. Praharsh Chandra is now a Co-founder and the Chief of Operations at Shadowfax Technologies.
Shadowfax claims to be working with over 5000 employees.
Shadowfax - Startup Story
Shadowfax was initially conceptualized as a food delivery player, but later it was diversified to cater to other verticals including grocery, lifestyle, electronics, pharmacy, furniture, and other express mail deliveries to become the company that we now have.
Shadowfax - Mission and Vision
Shadowfax's mission is to build a fast and reliable logistics network whilst empowering a million micro-entrepreneurs through technology is the driving force behind all that we do!
The vision of Shadowfax is to "enable commerce by empowering lives for everyone, everywhere."
Shadowfax - Name and Tagline
The name Shadowfax has been inspired from the mythical creature of "Lord of the Rings", where the chief of Mearas, the horse that Gandalf the Grey rode, was termed as Shadowfax. The horse was popular for speed, which was often described as "faster than the wind" or "like an arrow."
Shadowfax is named after the "Lord of all horses", "who is an epitome of monumental speed and communication, much like our reliable & agile logistic offerings", says the website of Shadowfax.
Shadowfax tagline is "Speedy, secure and convenient deliveries!"
Shadowfax - Logo and its Meaning
Shadowfax's company logo has a paper airplane that implies fast delivery service that Shadowfax offers. The company is a provider of an on-demand hyperlocal delivery platform intended to help merchants to focus on their core business by outsourcing last-mile delivery services.
Rishabh Rathi
Shadowfax - Business Model and Revenue Model
Shadowfax operates an unusually built business-to-business logistics network in more than 700 cities in India, as of now. The startup works with neighborhood stores to use their real estate to store inventory and a large network of freelancers for the delivery.
Currently, e-commerce contributes the most to Shadow fax's business with a 30% share. Food and groceries are next with 25% shares, while reverse logistics account for 20% of them. Shadowfax also has a courier tracking system, which provides an online automatic tracking system to track shipments. Customers can track the current status of the parcel instead of visiting the courier location or calling the customer service center.
Shadowfax - Revenue and Growth
“We aim to grow 10x in the next four years and take the company public. The growth has been fantastic in the last two years. We also plan to invest in backward integration and build automated warehouses, taking the six warehouses we have now to 10. It will also enable us to innovate with the largest online platform in India and build core capabilities that can be democratized for the larger logistics ecosystem," said Abhishek Bansal, CEO, Shadowfax.
Shadowfax Technologies Private Limited's operating revenues range is INR 100 cr - 500 cr for the financial year ending on 31 March 2019. Its EBITDA has decreased by -96.32 % over the previous year. At the same time, its book net worth has increased by 60.17 %.
As per the latest filings accessed in February 2, 2022, Shadowfax's operating revenues increased by 43.7% to be Rs 464 crore in FY21, which was Rs 323 crore in FY20. The company's revenue grew by 93% during FY20. The EBITDA of the company, which was measured at -24.33% in FY20, became -25.09% in FY21.
Shadowfax has witnessed a gradual year-on-year growth, picturesquely with the rolling of the years in its daily active users, orders and funding:
| Year | Daily Active Users | Total Orders per day | Funding | Acquisition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1K | 15K | $8 mn | Pickingo |
| 2016 | 2K | 30K | $10 mn | - |
| 2017 | 5K | 80K | - | NovuEx |
| 2018 | 10K | 150K | $22 mn | - |
| 2019 | 25K | 400K | $60 mn | - |
Here are some of the major growth milestones that Shadowdax currently boasts of:
- It boasts of being the largest hyperlocal delivery platform
- Shadowfax has over a million registered users
- It has a daily users count equivalent to 100K
- The company completes 20M+ monthly deliveries
- It is currently operational in over 700 cities
- ShadowFax's services serves 7000+ pincodes across the country
- Shadowfax is trusted by Flipkart, Zomato, Myntra, P&G and other reputed companies from various domains
Ashwini
Shadowfax - Funding and Investors
Shadowfax has raised a total of $100M in funding over 4 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Dec 5, 2019, from a Series D round where Flipkart helped the company raise $60 mn. Shadowfax is funded by 13 investors. Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund and Flipkart are the most recent investors.
Here's taking a look at the funding table:
| Date | Round | Amount | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 5, 2019 | Series D | $60M | Flipkart |
| Aug 22, 2018 | Series C | $22M | NGP Capital |
| Dec 25, 2016 | Series B | $10M | Eight Roads Ventures |
| Sep 12, 2015 | Series A | $8M | Eight Roads Ventures |
Shadowfax - Acquisitions
Shadowfax has acquired 2 organizations. Their most recent acquisition was NuvoEx on Oct 31, 2017.
| Acquiree Name | Date | Amount | About Acquiree |
|---|---|---|---|
| NuvoEx | Oct 31, 2017 | - | NuvoEx is a niche logistics services company, focused on solving the reverse flow problems in the Indian ecommerce industry. |
| Pickingo | Nov 9, 2015 | - | Pickingo is an on demand B2B hyperlocal delivery service |
Shadowfax - Awards and Recognitions
Ever since Shadowfax came into being, the company has grabbed awards and recognitions every now and then. Here are a list of the prominent awards and recognitions garnered by Shadowfax:
- The company was awarded with the Silver award for an Outstanding performance in the COVID Focussed Community Support at 4th CSR Health Impact Awards, 2020 COVID Edition
- Shadowfax was declared the winner in the category of Innovation in Transport Tech at 10th Aegis Graham Bell Awards, 2020
- The company was recognized as the winner of Excellence in Innovation by ET at its Now Stars of the Industry Awards, 2019
- Shadowfax was also conferred upon the title of winners as Disruptive Startup logistics of the Year at the 9th Inflection Conference & Awards, 2019
- Amazon awarded Shadowfax at the Excellence Super Star Award in 2019 as the winner of Best Emerging Service Partner
- Shadowfax also boasts of being the winner in Providing last mile delivery services at the Flipkart Last Mile Agency Award of 2019
- Shadowfax was alos recognised at the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards, 2019, as the winner of Dream Chasers for Driving Positive Change
- The company was also a part of Forbes 30 under 30, listed by Forbes in 2019
Shadowfax - Competitors
The top competitors in ShadowFax's competitive set are:
Shadowfax - Challenges Faced
“From a growth driven strategy,” Bansal shares, “we had to take a sustainable approach to our business. The biggest challenge was to create a very high ground efficiency.”
Initial operational challenges demanded the young company to quickly work out an innovative approach. Abhishek Bansal said that they discovered that the trick to successful business was to operate in different categories, each having a different peak time. This way the same delivery boy can be used for multiple categories, which in turn would increase the efficiency.
In January 2016, the company was at a minus 35% margin, and by the end of the year,, it stood at 4% margin. In 2017, the company grew threefold.
According to Bansal, every platform operating in the same-day delivery domain is using Shadowfax, and there is not even a single company that was not working with Shadowfax understanding what is the most sustainable business and defining a product-market fit has helped Shadowfax achieve great entrepreneurial milestones in a short span of time.
Bansal says, “Until and unless you’re making money per transaction on a unit level you don’t really know whether you have built the right product or not. Once you get that right, it just remains a matter of scaling in order to be successful.”
Shadowfax - Future Plans
Shadowfax is currently looking forward to doubling the current orders and reaching the customers at every possible corners of the country in the next 5 years. Going by the growth that the Indian market is capable of seeing, Shadowfax is looking to grow 10X in the next 5 years. Besides, the company is also focusing on decreasing the commute time and congestion and contributing towards a greener planet.
Shadowfax - FAQs
What is Shadowfax?
Shadowfax is an Indian company that offers on-demand hyperlocal delivery with delivery analytics by analysing delivery data, order tracking, as well as access to consumer insights.
Who is the owner and CEO of Shadowfax?
Abhishek Bansal is the current CEO of Shadowfax.
Who founded Shadowfax?
Shadowfax was founded by Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal, and was joined in by Gaurav Jaithliya and Praharsh Chandra, in 2015.
When was Shadowfax founded?
Shadowfax was founded by Abhishek Bansal, Vaibhav Khandelwal, Gaurav Jaithliya and Praharsh Chandra in 2015.
How does Shadowfax make money?
Currently, e-commerce contributes the most to Shadowfax's business with a 30% share. Food and groceries are next with 25% while reverse logistics account for 20%.
Source :- https://startuptalky.com/ Author :- Anik Banerjee Date :- February 02, 2022 at 12:41PM