Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by the organization it is based on.
Shadowfax offers on-demand hyperlocal delivery with delivery analytics by analysing delivery data, order tracking, as well as access to consumer insights. Shadowfax Technologies serves customers in India.
A hyperlocal delivery model can be defined as an online business model in which the on-demand needs of customers are met through local offline shops via a digital platform. The demand for goods and services of customers like grocery, medicine, laundry service, etc. are met instantly.
Shadowfax - Company Highlights
| Startup Name | Shadowfax |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Bengaluru, India |
| Industry | Courier , Logistics |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Founders | Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal |
| CEO | Abhishek Bansal |
| Products | Delivery, express mail, third-party logistics, Supply Chain |
| Area Served | India |
| Website | www.shadowfax.in |
Shadowfax - About and How it Works?
Shadowfax - Logo and its Meaning
Shadowfax - Founder and History
Shadowfax - Mission
Shadowfax - Recent News
Shadow - Team
Shadowfax - Business Model
Shadowfax - Revenue and Growth
Shadowfax - Funding
Shadowfax - Acquisitions
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 intended to help merchants to focus on their core business by outsourcing last-mile delivery services.
The company's platform offers tech-enabled one-stop delivery services for E-commerce, Restaurants, FMCG, Pharma, and online and offline retailers as well as provides businesses to access cutting edge technology in logistics and a reliable delivery network, enabling customers to get fast delivery easily.
Within a short-period, Shadowfax has become one of India’s largest last-mile delivery platforms with more than 50,000 delivery partners network. They are the last mile logistics network offering tech-enabled one-stop delivery solutions. Their unique app enables the delivery of food, grocery, pharmacy, and e-commerce for businesses and helps to create customer delight using technology.
Its clients include Domino's, Big Basket, Amazon, PayTM, Flipkart, Myntra, McDonald’s, 1MG, and many smaller restaurants, merchants, and retailers.
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.
Shadowfax - Founder and History
Shadowfax is founded by IIT-Delhi alumni Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal in 2015.
The company 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.
Shadowfax - Mission
Shadowfax's mission statement says, "Build the fastest and most reliable logistics network by empowering a million micro entrepreneurs through technology to deliver anything, anywhere."
Rishabh Rathi
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 expansion of cloud kitchen biz, lets go of 50 employees
Shadow - Team
- Abhishek Bansal - Co-Founder & CEO
- Vaibhav Khandelwal - Co-Founder & CTO
- Saurabh Sharma - VP of Growth and Expansion
- Nidhi Lashkari - Senior Director of Engineering
- Praharsh Chandra - Founding Partner and Chief of Operations
- Gaurav Jaithliya - Co-founder & Chief of Strategy
- Rohit Gupta - VP, Business Development and Strategy
- Praveen Kumar KJ - CFO
Shadowfax - Business Model
Shadowfax operates an unusually built business-to-business logistics network in more than 300 cities in India. The startup works with neighbourhood 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% while reverse logistics account for 20%. 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 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 %.
Ashwini
Shadowfax - Funding
Shadowfax has raised a total of $119.7M in funding over 6 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Dec 5, 2019 from a Series D round. Shadowfax is funded by 13 investors. Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund and Flipkart are the most recent investors.
| Date | Round | Amount | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 5, 2019 | Series D | $60M | Flipkart |
| Aug 22, 2018 | Series C | $22M | NGP Capital |
| Jan 1, 2017 | Venture Round | $18.9M | Eight Roads Ventures, InnoVen Capital |
| Dec 25, 2016 | Series B | $10M | Eight Roads Ventures |
| Sep 12, 2015 | Series A | $8.5M | Eight Roads Ventures |
| Aug 17, 2015 | Angel Round | $300K | - |
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 - Competitors
The top competitors in ShadowFax's competitive set are Delhivery, Grab a Grub Services, NOW Bike Taxi, Dropbase Software Private Limited, Ecom Express, Pathao, Delyver, Allcargo Logistics Ltd., GoJavas, ElasticRun. Ltd., Quickli, Delfoo - Delivers Food At Doorstep, Rivigo, Xpressbees, Ekart Logistics, DHL and FedEx.
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 their business was to operate in different categories, each having a different peak time. So that, the same delivery boy can be used for multiple categories, which in turn would increase the efficiency.
In January 2016, the company was at minus 35 percent margin, and by the end of the year it stood at 4 percent 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 and 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
The company has a presence in over 80 Indian cities and towns. It aims to increase the number to 100 in the next three months. At present, the plug-and-play platform caters to 3,500 pin codes across 200 cities and fulfils two lakh orders per day for food, grocery, fashion, pharmacy, furniture, e-commerce, and other sectors.
Using a proprietary technology completely, Shadowfax, in a small period of time has managed to achieve the feat of being the go-to company for all the O2O businesses flourishing today.
Shadowfax has a strong team of technology that takes care of route optimization, delivery partners, and revenue optimization. They are focused on building capabilities to understand how to take the most efficient route for intercity or hyper-local delivery.
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 in 2015.
When was Shadowfax founded?
Shadowfax was founded by Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal 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%.
Must have tools for startups - Recommended by StartupTalky
Subscribe to StartupTalky
Get the latest insights delivered to you right in your inbox
