BlackBuck turns unicorn, valued at $1.02 billion with Tribe, IFC funding

Online trucking logistics platform BlackBuck said on July 22 that it has raised funds valuing it at over a billion dollars, making it the latest entrant to India’s unicorn club in a record-breaking year for startup funding.

BlackBuck raised $67 million led by Tribe Capital, IFC’s Emerging Asia Fund and Vostok Emerging Finance (VEF), a European investor. It did not specify its valuation but a person familiar with the matter said it was valued at $1.02 billion, marginally higher than the $950 million it was valued at in May 2019 according to media reports. This person however said BlackBuck’s valuation two years ago was about $850 million.

BlackBuck helps shippers organise trucks, have real-time visibility and have end-to-end freight management. Other investors in the round include existing backers Wellington Management, Sands Capital and IFC. 

“BlackBuck started with a dream to re-imagine trucking, to make it 10X simple and 10X efficient. It has been six years and we are just getting started to make a difference. We continue to dedicate ourselves for the foreseeable future to solve fundamental Indian trucking problems. The new financing round gives us more firepower to invest in fundamentally hard trucking problems and continue deepening our reach & impact,” said Rajesh Yabaji, co-founder and CEO of BlackBuck.

Its other investors include venture firms Sequoia, Accel, Goldman Sachs and B Capital.

BlackBuck said it has over 1.2 million trucks on its platform across 700 districts over 1,000 industrial hubs. Its customers include Hindustan Unilever, Coca Cola, Asian Paints and the Tata Group.

"India's supply chain and logistics industry is moving from paper and pencil to digital. BlackBuck’s ability to measure output and productivity growth has streamlined logistical challenges for the industry over a short time frame. Its continued high-velocity growth promises to bring even greater transformation to the Indian trucking ecosystem,” said Arjun Sethi, Co-Founder and Partner at Tribe Capital.

BlackBuck’s valuation has risen marginally or remained flat, depending on what regulatory filings would reveal at a time when internet startups have otherwise raised money at successively higher valuations in a short period of time.

The logistics firm is India’s 16th unicorn in half a year, compared to 11 unicorns in all of 2020.