Pune-based NTex Transportation Services, which owns and operates logistics and distribution platform ElasticRun has raised $7 M from Norwest Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital. The funding was completed in two portions, with the first coming in April last year of about $2M.
The startup will use the funds to further build its technology infrastructure, on-board talent and expand operations. The firm was founded by Sandeep Deshmukh, formerly a senior executive at Amazon India, and Saurabh Nigam and Shitiz Bansal, who were both with EdgeVerve, the product, and platform unit of Infosys.
“We invested in the ElasticRun team because of their relevant experience, having worked at DHL and Amazon. Their technology and network-centric approach to optimize the path of goods as they travel across different touch points make them very unique,” said Mohan Kumar, executive director, Norwest Venture Partners India.
“What we offer potential customers is that they don’t have to spend capex on building fixed-capacity logistics setups. They can latch on to our platform and do away with the need for any setup cost,“ said Deshmukh, chief executive, ElasticRun to ET. “This platform allows the brand owners to focus on core products and do away the concerns about managing the variability in demand.”
Norwest Venture Partners has earlier grabbed huge profits by exiting the IndusInd bank stocks. This is the very first investment by the firm in the current calendar year.
While Kalaari Capital has earlier invested in Perpule. Norwest has raised around $1.2B funds for global investments last year.
