Logistics firm Xpressbees buys Trackon in all-cash deal

Ecommerce-focused logistics firm Xpressbees has acquired New Delhi-based courier firm Trackon in an all-cash transaction.

The acquisition will help Xpressbees enter SME courier space, the Pune-based firm told ET without disclosing the deal size.

Amitava Saha, chief executive of Xpressbees, said he will leverage his logistics firm’s existing network to scale up Trackon across the country.

Trackon has largely been focussed in the northern and western parts of the country, serving around 5,000 pin codes. Xpressbees is present in around 15,000 pin codes.

“We will expand Trackon using our network and also look at cross-selling our existing services through the franchise network of Trackon,” Saha said.

Prabhat Kumar Anand, founder and CMD of Trackon, will continue to lead the business for at least the next two years and there will be no change to the firm’s brand identity as part of the acquisition either.

Pramod Kumar Singh, Dinesh Rautela and Yoginder Kumar Dabas – cofounders of Trackon – have resigned and are moving on as part of the deal.

“Trackon is a Rs 350-crore revenue firm and with our scale and reach the combined strengths will help improve the bottom line of our firm as well,” Saha said, adding there will be technology-led improvements for Trackon going forward.

Xpressbees plans to expand Trackon’s reach in smaller cities or towns in eastern India also, he said.

The acquisition is being funded from its existing cash balance, Saha said.

A Bloomberg report on August 4 had said Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board is looking to invest $100 million in Xpressbees.

Saha declined to comment on the same.

People aware of the development said the new funding could be a mix of primary and secondary share sale at Xpressbees.

On May 3, ET had reported about Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional picking up about 3% stake in Xpressbees for about $40 million through a secondary share sale. It had bought a part of Elevation Capital’s stake in Xpressbees.

Xpressbees was last valued at $1.1 billion, when the Pune-based logistics startup raised $300 million, out of which $100 million was in primary capital and the rest was via a secondary share sale. The Khazanah share sale had happened at a 25-35% premium to the 2022 financing.

Xpressbees was initially the logistics arm of ecommerce firm FirstCry but the former was spun out as a separate entity in 2015 under Busybees Logistics Solutions.

Saha, Supam Maheshwari, Prashant Jadhav and Sanket Hattimattur had started FirstCry 2010. Maheshwari is chief executive of FirstCry. Globalbees, an ecommerce brand aggregator firm, is also a subsidiary of FirstCry.