Parsel to buy stake in ERP firm, raise funds by Jan

Firm recently bought BillBoxGo or Accord Ecom Solutions

Mumbai-based logistics startup Parsel is acquiring a 30 per cent stake in an enterprise resource planning services company, SpiderG.

The two companies have reached a revenue-sharing agreement. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Parsel, founded in September, is on an acquisition spree. It recently bought BillBoxGo or Accord Ecom Solutions. The company counts Flipkart as one of its biggest customers.

Parsel also acquired a stake in Done Solutions, a cloud-based ERP solutions company, which will give it a leg up in the food ordering business. Done caters to over 350 restaurants and outlets. Its software helps restaurants keep track of orders placed through different food technology companies.

After these acquisitions, Parsel will change from being a logistics company into being a logistics service provider. It plans to tie up with other logistics companies and source their delivery agents for different orders.

"We won't be hiring delivery boys. The logistics companies will. We will provide the technology and they will pay the salaries. Our algorithm will tell them how to optimise deliveries," said Himanshu, chief executive officer and founder, Parsel.

Pasel will add heat signature technology so that bikers can be directed to areas where the number of orders and deliveries are expected to be higher. The number of orders for a food technolgy company peak during lunch and dinner time. During the off-peak hours the delivery agents idle. Parsel plans to use them for making e-commerce deliveries.

"After the lunch rush the delivery boys will make retail deliveries, which have to be finished by 7 pm and then it is dinner time again," Himanshu said. According to him, the company usually breaks even before dinner time and "everything after that is profit".

Himanshu claimed that the company had a monthly cash burn of Rs 40 lakh and made Rs 1.5 crore in November. Parsel was founded after a round of Rs 3 crore angel funding in August. It will raise Series A funding by mid-January.

"We need the funding because there is a lag between delivery and the bill payment. We plan to be investor independent by the end of 2016," Himanshu added.