Bengaluru-based logistics startup Locus raises $2.75mn, led by Exfinity Venture Partners

Bangaluru-based logistics management platform Locus has secured $2.75 million in series A funding, led by Balakrishnan V's Exfinity Venture Partners, along with Blume Ventures, BeeNext and Rajesh Ranavat, the managing director of Hong Kong PE firm Fung Capital.

Locus helps firms such as food-delivery services, e-commerce players and even courier services. It optimises their logistics by helping dispatch, track and manage their delivery agents. The firm has built its proprietary geocoder and route deviation engines that are necessary for fulfilling on-demand logistics.
 
"The Locus solution is built by factoring real world fuzziness to support iffy networks, inaccurate addresses and hundreds of other exceptional scenarios. It can also club orders in real-time re-routing to maximize throughput," said Balakrishnan V, chairman at Exfinity Venture Partners and former CFO at Infosys. Balakrishnan is on the board of Locus.
 
The firm offers its technology stack to customers on a PAAS (platform as a service) model, which enables dispatch, route optimisation, tracking, managing on-field workforce, SMS alerts for end users and calculating ETAs (estimated time of arrival), among other things. Locus plans to strengthen its technology and expand its team with the newly raised capital.
 
Locus claims it has multiple large enterprise customers such as food-delivery services, laundry pickup services and e-commerce players. Online furniture marketplace Urban Ladder, an early adopter, says it realised a 25% increase in productivity in three months, using Locus' solution.
 
"Supply chain, delivery and logistics are critical challenges and key to competitive advantage for enterprises. We at Locus have created high-end algorithms & systems, unlike any existing solution, to take care of this problem, so businesses can focus on offering their customers a delightful experience," Nishith Rastogi, co-founder and CEO of Locus, said.
 
Locus had raised its seed investment in July last year from growX Ventures; and angel investors Bhupen Shah, Manish Singhal and Amit Ranjan also participated in the series A round.