On-demand, hyper-local logistics startup Pickingo raises Rs 8.3 crore in Round 1

NEW DELHI |BENGALURU: On-demand, hyper-local logistics startup Pickingo has raised Rs 8.3 crore in its first round of institutional funding, led by Rehan yar Khan-funded, multi-stage venture capital firm Orios venture Partners, and Toppr co-founder Zishaan Hayath. The 8-month-old Gurgaon-based startup which is currently operational in six cities the National Capital Region Jaipur, Bengaluru, Mum bai, Pune and Hyderabad will use the funds to ex pand its presence to 20 new cities, according to Pickin go co-founder Rahul Gill.

"Apart from the metros we will be focusing on the slightly smaller towns and cities across the country such as Lucknow, Coimba tore and Chandigarh among others," Gill said.

Founded in 2014 by a group of IIT Kanpur and IIM Bangalore alumni Pickingo provides last mile logistics services for a number of large consumer internet companies.

The on-demand logistics space has seen a spate of venture capital-led trans actions over the course of 2015.

"Just like in other verticals such as food, grocery, and laundry, hyperlocal logistics will be disrupted through on-demand, players. We have seen this model become a huge success in Chi na and also in the US," Rehanyar Khan, generalpart ner at Orios Venture Partners said.

While most of the transactions in the space have tended to be in the seed to Series A range, deal sizes have now begun to cross $10 million in size.

"It's a very exciting space right now. Huge supply and demand are present in different planes of cost, time and geography, we just need to match them using technology to unlock a large number of transactions," Gill said.