Porter Closes Series F Funding Round led by Kedaara Capital and Wellington Management

Porter, India’s leading on-demand Goods Transport Agency (GTA), has successfully closed its Series F funding round led by Kedaara Capital and Wellington Management along with continued support from existing investor, Vitruvian Partners. The round included a healthy mix of primary investment in the Company and secondary exits to few existing shareholders.

Founded in 2014, Porter has transformed intra-city logistics across India, offering a comprehensive suite of services including on-demand intra-city transport, packers and movers, and enterprise logistics solutions. With this fresh capital, the company is set to expand operations across multiple cities, with the goal of serving millions of MSMEs and enabling livelihood opportunities for over 1 million gig workers. With a sharp eye on growth and innovation, Porter plans to channel the capital into team expansion, technological development, and operational excellence— while continuing to build a greener logistics network aligned with national decarbonization efforts.

Uttam Digga, Co-Founder & CEO, Porter, said, “We are pleased to welcome Kedaara Capital and Wellington Management as our strategic partners. Since our inception, we have been committed to making urban logistics more efficient, intelligent, and inclusive — supporting MSMEs, empowering gig workers, and strengthening the communities we serve. With this, we look forward to accelerating our growth and building world-class, sustainable logistics solutions for businesses and communities across the globe."

We would also like to acknowledge our early investors who played a pivotal role in supporting Porter’s growth journey, and we are deeply grateful for their unwavering support, guidance, and belief in our vision throughout this transformative period."

Anant Gupta, Partner and Ashutosh Sardesai, Director at Kedaara Capital, said “We are excited to partner with Porter, the undisputed leader in India’s intra-city logistics space. In a largely unorganized and underserved market, Porter has built a tech-first, asset-light platform that delivers seamless, reliable logistics solutions at scale. Their strong execution, deep market understanding, and unwavering focus on customer and partner experience have created significant network advantages. We look forward to supporting Uttam, Pranav, and the entire Porter team as they continue to drive innovation, empower driver-partners, and expand their leadership across India’s intra-city logistics ecosystem.”

Prakhar Singh, Asia Sector Lead, Wellington Management, added, “We admire Porter’s resilience and execution-first mindset, which has helped them create their leadership position in the intra-city logistics space. What sets them apart is how deeply they’re embedded in the ecosystem—organizing a largely unstructured market from within, using technology to create meaningful impact for MSMEs and gig workers. We’re excited to partner with them as they scale their purpose.”

Shailesh Lakhani, MD, Peak XV, said, "When our journey started with Porter 10 years ago, the company was one amongst many in local goods transport. Uttam, Pranav and Vikas were clear on their vision and approach and why it was the right one. Today the company is the market leader, and more importantly has made the process of sending goods reliable, more efficient and transparent in cities in India and now abroad. In the journey, their name has become a verb and to say '’I am Portering it" means the goods will be there soon. We wish the company and their new partners all the best and thank the Company and the management for the partnership."

As Porter completes 10 years in business, the milestone signifies its resilience, consistent value delivery, and leadership in logistics across 22 cities in India and 2 countries. Guided by its purpose of “moving a billion dreams, one delivery at a time” Porter has now evolved into an ecosystem touching the lives of over 30 lakh customers and 3 lakh gig workers every month in India.

IndigoEdge acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Porter on this transaction.

About Porter:

Founded in 2014, Porter is a leading Goods Transport Agency (GTA) offering a wide range of intra-city and inter-city logistics solutions. Guided by its purpose of “moving a billion dreams, one delivery at a time” Porter has now evolved into an ecosystem touching the lives of over 30 lakh customers and 3 lakh gig workers every month across 22 cities in India. Backed by a team of 2,600 employees, the company has spent the last decade digitizing urban logistics infrastructure, fostering MSME collaborations, and accelerating India’s journey towards an organized and connected economy.

The company strives to improve the lives of gig-workers by providing them with financial access, affordability, and financial independence. Porter started operations in India as Smartshift Logistics Solutions Private Limited and has since expanded its footprint internationally, now operational in two countries. Porter has multiple segments within logistics—from on-demand trucks and two-wheelers to Packers & Movers, Porter Enterprise and intercity courier services. To learn more, visit www.porter.in

About Kedaara Capital

Kedaara is an operationally oriented private equity firm pursuing control and minority investment opportunities in India. It currently manages over $6 billion through investments in several market-leading businesses across a variety of sectors including financial services, consumer, pharma/healthcare, and technology/business services. Since its inception, Kedaara has remained singularly dedicated to its stated strategy of focusing on investments built through trust-based relationships with best-in-class entrepreneurs and management teams across secular fast-growing end markets. Kedaara combines the strengths of a well-networked, highly experienced local investing and operating team, with the experience of their strategic partner, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a global private equity firm.

About Private Investing at Wellington Management

Wellington’s Private Investing platform manages more than US$8.9bn in assets under management, and invests globally across venture capital, private credit, and private real estate in multiple stages and sectors (consumer, technology, healthcare, financial services, biotech, energy, industrials, climate tech, and real estate). The team accesses its deep research, networks, and resources across public and private markets to broaden perspectives which aim to benefit both investors and entrepreneurs.

For more than 20 years, Wellington has been investing in private markets, launching its first dedicated private capital fund in 2014. As one of the world’s largest independent investment management firms, Wellington serves as a trusted adviser to over 2,500 clients in more than 60 countries, managing US$1.3 trillion for pensions, endowments and foundations, insurers, family offices, fund sponsors, global wealth managers, and other clients.

4G will Continue to Remain Relevant for Quite Sometime: Qualcomm

US-based Qualcomm on Tuesday said 4G will continue to be relevant over the next few years and unveiled a new lineup of mobile chipsets for 4G smartphones in the country.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G, 662 and 460 promise to offer enhanced user experiences across connectivity, gaming and entertainment.

"While we see a fast adoption of 5G across geographies globally, we do recognise the phenomenal boost that 4G has given towards enabling broadband connectivity for Indian consumers. 4G will stay relevant for quite sometime," Rajen Vagadia, vice-president and president, Qualcomm India, said.

He added that for regions like India, 4G will stay a key technology for connectivity.

"Our goal is to enable our partners to continue creating solutions that offer seamless connectivity access and exceptional mobile experiences," he said.

Asked about 5G, Vagadia said smartphones powered by the latest technology should make their way into the Indian market in the first half of this year.

While these smartphones are expected to be available in the mid and premium range, they would become more affordable as they get more affordable, he said adding that roll out of 5G networks would also be an important factor.

The new chipsets unveiled on Tuesday - which will be deployed by handset makers on smartphones across various price points - are designed to enable fast 4G connectivity speeds, deliver key Wi-Fi 6 features and integrated Bluetooth 5.1 with advanced audio via the Qualcomm FastConnect 6-series subsystems and support Dual-Frequency (L1 and L5) GNSS to improve location positioning accuracy and robustness.

These are also the first system-on-chip solutions to support Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC).

Developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), NavIC is the Indian version of GPS. Apart from popular GPS, there are other satellite navigation systems like GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou.

Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi and Realme said they will soon launch devices with NavIC support, based on these new Snapdragon chipsets.

"The availability of NavIC across multiple mobile platforms will help enhance the geolocation capabilities of smartphones in the region and bring the benefits of this indigenous solution to Indian consumers for their day-to-day use," ISRO Chairman K Sivan said. PTI SR

Bharti Airtel Enters into an Agreement to Acquire Tikona Networks’ 4G Business

Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”), Indian telecommunications services provider has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Tikona Digital Networks (“Tikona”) to acquire Tikona’s 4G Business including the Broadband Wireless Access (“BWA”) spectrum and 350 sites, in five telecom circles. The acquisition is subject to requisite regulatory approvals.

Tikona currently has 20 MHz spectrum in the 2300 MHz band in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh circles. Airtel plans to roll-out high speed 4G services on the newly acquired spectrum in the five circles immediately after the closure of the transaction.

As per the agreement, the acquisition of the 4G business in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Himachal Pradesh will be undertaken by Airtel, while in the Rajasthan circle, it will be accomplished through Airtel’s subsidiary Bharti Hexacom Limited. Post-acquisition, the combined spectrum holding of Airtel in these five circles will be within the spectrum caps prescribed by the Government.

The proposed acquisition will enable Airtel to fill BWA spectrum gaps in the 2300 MHz band in Rajasthan, UP (East) and UP (West), thereby securing a pan India footprint in the band. The deal will significantly bolster Airtel’s spectrum position in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, taking its overall BWA spectrum holding to 30 MHz each in these circles. Post completion of the deal, Airtel will have 30 MHz in the 2300 MHz band in 13 circles giving it tremendous advantage to handle the surging data demand.

Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel, said, “Airtel’s continued focus on strengthening its 4G capabilities across multiple spectrum bands will be complemented with the BWA spectrum acquisition from Tikona. We believe that combining our capacities in TD-LTE and FD-LTE will further bolster our network, and help us provide unmatched high-speed wireless broadband experience to our customers. We remain committed to our vision of leading India’s digital revolution by offering world-class and affordable telecom services through a robust spectrum portfolio spread across multiple bands.”