Automation Startup Zinier Raises $22 Mn from Accel, Founders Fund and NGP Capital

Zinier, a leading provider of intelligent field service automation, today announced that it has raised $22 million in Series B funding to accelerate global growth and expand its platform to meet the growing needs of field service organizations. Returning investor Accel led the round, along with Founders Fund, Nokia-backed NGP Capital, Qualcomm Ventures LLC and returning France-based investor Newfund.

The investment
coincides with the field service industry’s shift toward digitization.
As companies continue to embrace digital transformation, today’s
technologies help them quickly understand the “what,
when and where” of a field service request. However, these technologies
do not provide the deep layer of intelligence required to drive
operational efficiency. As a result, while field service organizations
are able to collect massive streams of the data in
the field, they aren’t able to utilize that data to increase
productivity, reduce costs and boost customer satisfaction.

Built on Zinier’s pure-play, AI-driven platform, Field Service Elements delivers this missing intelligence. The solution combines artificial intelligence and proactive insights to automate critical back office functions while providing an intuitive, all-in-one mobile experience for field technicians. Imagine smart devices that can monitor equipment health and historical data to automatically trigger a preventative service request and assign it to the nearest qualified technician. All of this is possible with intelligent automation.

“Considering the
massive amount of infrastructure under the purview of field service
teams, automated field service has the potential to truly transform a
wide range of industries,” said Arka Dhar, co-founder
and CEO of Zinier. “The market opportunity for platform-based,
automated field service is reflected in the huge demand we’ve seen from
customers in infrastructure-heavy sectors, such as telecom, energy and
financial services. With this additional investment,
we’re able to continue expanding the capabilities of our platform and
extend the reach of intelligent field service automation to new
strategic markets and geographies.”    

Zinier will use the investment to:

• 
  Continue developing and
  enhancing its technology platform to build out-of-the-box solutions for
  industry-specific customer use cases
• 
  Further expand into new
  regions (Zinier currently operates in North America, LATAM and APAC) and
  vertical markets (Zinier currently focuses on the telecom and energy
  industries)
• 
  Build out its global team to continue supporting Zinier’s rapidly growing customer base with the industry’s best talent

This investment underscores Zinier’s exponential growth over the past year. In 2018, led by a leadership team with decades of experience and expertise from ServiceMax, Salesforce, AT&T and Singtel, Zinier launched Field Service Elements behind a Series A funding round. These milestones enabled the company to add several of the largest global telecommunications providers to its customer roster, and positions Zinier for significant growth in 2019 and beyond.

“Field service management
has plenty of room for improvement. However, injecting intelligent
automation across the entire field service delivery chain allows for
significantly reshaping the landscape and capturing
even larger value,” said Dinesh Katiyar, Partner at Accel. “Zinier's
AI-driven field service automation platform has resonated with customers
in the telco sector, and our re-investment in the company is a
testament to the technology’s potential in other high-growth
markets.”

“Field service
organizations suffer from the same issue facing many sectors: the amount
of data being collected outstrips companies’ ability to make use of it.
Zinier’s intelligent automation technology
is directly addressing this problem for an industry in which the pace
of innovation over the past 20 years has been glacial,” said Trae
Stephens, Partner at Founders Fund.

NGP Capital said on its investment, “Field service organizations are still primarily run manually, with lack of automation and real-time visibility into the field work. Having reviewed the Field Service software industry extensively, we were impressed by Zinier’s platform, which enhances workflow automation with predictive intelligence and a delightful user experience," said Upal Basu, Partner at NGP Capital. "Zinier enables companies to draw meaningful insights from data to automate their processes and drive efficiency, which is the ultimate promise of IoT. We look forward to working with Arka and his team to help scale their business in the Telecom sector and beyond."

Qualcomm Ventures, said, “We were impressed with Zinier’s novel approach to proactive field maintenance, using IoT to increase productivity through automation and intelligence," said Varsha Tagare, Sr. Director, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and Managing Director of Qualcomm Ventures India. “Their end-to-end field service automation solution will help companies work smarter and faster while also enabling a more efficient deployment of 5G services worldwide.”

About Zinier

Zinier is an intelligent field service automation platform that helps organizations work smarter, faster, and more efficiently. Zinier’s end-to-end solution, Field Service Elements, uses artificial intelligence, proactive insights, and an intuitive, all-in-one mobile experience to supercharge every aspect of an organization’s field service operations, from the back office all the way to the field. Zinier has international offices in Silicon Valley, Mexico City, Singapore, and Bengaluru.

Logistics Tech Firm Shadowfax Receives $22 Million in Series C Funding

Bangalore-based Shadowfax, India’s market leader in the Online-2-Offline (O2O) logistics segment, announced today that it has closed $22 million in Series C funding led by NGP Capital. Qualcomm Ventures (the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated), Mirae Asset and existing investor, Eight Roads Ventures, also joined the oversubscribed equity round.

Shadowfax survived the O2O logistics industry’s chaotic infancy period to emerge as the winner amongst India’s hyperlocal delivery start-ups. The company’s unique futuristic platform makes delivery seamless for diverse categories of products like grocery, food, fashion and electronics. Shadowfax currently fulfils 90,000 unique orders per day. It has multiplied its capabilities three-times in the last 16 months alone and is projecting 150% year-on-year growth for the next five years. The company will use the funds for a concentrated 360 scale-up and by the year 2021 it aims to connect 4 lakh new businesses and Delivery Partners to its platform, up from the current 40,000 connections.

Speaking on the funding, Abhishek Bansal, CEO, Shadowfax, said, “We are extremely glad that the market has recognised our work and our potential. This latest funding is a manifestation of the investors’ faith in us and our technology. We are ready to take multiple steps forward towards our mission of connecting the next million micro entrepreneurs and suppliers in logistics using a singular platform to bridge the information gap and eradicate inefficiencies across the value chain.”

He further added, “Shadowfax is continuously growing and delivering enviable results in a demanding and burgeoning O2O logistics sector where many other players have not been able to survive. Our technology, Frodo, gives us the edge by driving cost optimisations and enabling us to achieve higher service levels. The unique Shadowfax platform works on the concept of flattening the demand curve across the day which also ensures a much higher earning for our rider partners”.

NGP Capital has been investing in the sector globally. Upal Basu, Partner at NGP Capital said, “The rise in Indian consumers’ expectations for door-step deliveries at a time of their convenience has created a critical need for a national last-mile, independent logistics provider that can serve the needs of these demanding consumers and diverse suppliers at scale. The team at Shadowfax has demonstrated its ability to scale and serve customers using sophisticated mobile technologies and strong execution capabilities to create India’s last-mile logistics leader. We are excited to be a part of Shadowfax’s team and look forward to helping the company continue its rapid growth”.

Speaking about this investment, Varsha Tagare, Managing Director of Qualcomm Ventures India, said, “We were impressed by Shadowfax’s ability to deliver efficiencies in the hyperlocal segment by harnessing the power of mobile. We look forward to supporting the company through our investment and enabling collaborations with technical experts, who have domain expertise in mobile, to help the company’s quest towards delivering enhanced user experiences”.

Ashish Dave, Head – India Venture Investments for Mirae Asset said, “As we move into the next phase of Indian O2O story, the market needs efficient and distributed hyperlocal logistics platforms such as Shadowfax that serve evolving customer needs of faster and cheaper product delivery. Shadowfax marks our first of many other investments to follow in India”.

Last month, Shadowfax started its WINGS program as an endeavor to converge small and mid-sized logistics entrepreneurs and assimilate kirana stores, transporters, franchises, DCOs (Driver cum owners) and individual vehicle owners.

Shadowfax previously raised funds amounting to $18.5 million from Eight Roads Ventures in 2015 and 2016.
Affirming his faith in Shadowfax, Aditya Gurunath Systla, Principal at Eight Roads Ventures, said, “Eight Roads Ventures’ backing of Shadowfax in this third funding round reflects our belief in the Shadowfax model and its ability to deliver outstanding results to customers. It’s been a fascinating ride so far, and we are excited to see the next chapter of the Shadowfax story unfold.”

Shadowfax, founded in 2015, has successfully outrun its competitors with its unique Frodo technology, an AI based location stream processing engine which enables high frequency decision-making which in turn drives cost optimisation and enables the highest service levels in the industry. Shadowfax has been able to maintain high partner efficiency which has enabled best in class unit economics of 20% on a transaction level.
Currently present in 80+ cities across India, the company plans to increase coverage to 100+ locations in the next three months.

Since start of this year, a number of logistics startup have raised funds in a continuous chain of funding rounds. In May, Chennai-based logistics tech startup FreightBro raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from Suresh Kumar, former global CIO of Bank of New York Mellon. Prior to which, Bengaluru-based Mojro, raised $650K in a funding round led by 1Crowd and its investor community

This was followed by $2 million funding of Chennai-based Pando, in a seed funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners.

Mumbai-based startup in the CleanTech-led cold chain logistics startup, Tessol, recently raised an undisclosed amount in follow-on equity funding from early stage venture capital firm 1Crowd, and existing investors Infuse Ventures and Ankur Capital.

Logistics Tech Firm Shadowfax Receives $22 Million in Series C Funding

Bangalore-based Shadowfax, India’s market leader in the Online-2-Offline (O2O) logistics segment, announced today that it has closed $22 million in Series C funding led by NGP Capital. Qualcomm Ventures (the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated), Mirae Asset and existing investor, Eight Roads Ventures, also joined the oversubscribed equity round.

Shadowfax survived the O2O logistics industry’s chaotic infancy period to emerge as the winner amongst India’s hyperlocal delivery start-ups. The company’s unique futuristic platform makes delivery seamless for diverse categories of products like grocery, food, fashion and electronics. Shadowfax currently fulfils 90,000 unique orders per day. It has multiplied its capabilities three-times in the last 16 months alone and is projecting 150% year-on-year growth for the next five years. The company will use the funds for a concentrated 360 scale-up and by the year 2021 it aims to connect 4 lakh new businesses and Delivery Partners to its platform, up from the current 40,000 connections.

Speaking on the funding, Abhishek Bansal, CEO, Shadowfax, said, “We are extremely glad that the market has recognised our work and our potential. This latest funding is a manifestation of the investors’ faith in us and our technology. We are ready to take multiple steps forward towards our mission of connecting the next million micro entrepreneurs and suppliers in logistics using a singular platform to bridge the information gap and eradicate inefficiencies across the value chain.”

He further added, “Shadowfax is continuously growing and delivering enviable results in a demanding and burgeoning O2O logistics sector where many other players have not been able to survive. Our technology, Frodo, gives us the edge by driving cost optimisations and enabling us to achieve higher service levels. The unique Shadowfax platform works on the concept of flattening the demand curve across the day which also ensures a much higher earning for our rider partners”.

NGP Capital has been investing in the sector globally. Upal Basu, Partner at NGP Capital said, “The rise in Indian consumers’ expectations for door-step deliveries at a time of their convenience has created a critical need for a national last-mile, independent logistics provider that can serve the needs of these demanding consumers and diverse suppliers at scale. The team at Shadowfax has demonstrated its ability to scale and serve customers using sophisticated mobile technologies and strong execution capabilities to create India’s last-mile logistics leader. We are excited to be a part of Shadowfax’s team and look forward to helping the company continue its rapid growth”.

Speaking about this investment, Varsha Tagare, Managing Director of Qualcomm Ventures India, said, “We were impressed by Shadowfax’s ability to deliver efficiencies in the hyperlocal segment by harnessing the power of mobile. We look forward to supporting the company through our investment and enabling collaborations with technical experts, who have domain expertise in mobile, to help the company’s quest towards delivering enhanced user experiences”.

Ashish Dave, Head – India Venture Investments for Mirae Asset said, “As we move into the next phase of Indian O2O story, the market needs efficient and distributed hyperlocal logistics platforms such as Shadowfax that serve evolving customer needs of faster and cheaper product delivery. Shadowfax marks our first of many other investments to follow in India”.

Last month, Shadowfax started its WINGS program as an endeavor to converge small and mid-sized logistics entrepreneurs and assimilate kirana stores, transporters, franchises, DCOs (Driver cum owners) and individual vehicle owners.

Shadowfax previously raised funds amounting to $18.5 million from Eight Roads Ventures in 2015 and 2016.
Affirming his faith in Shadowfax, Aditya Gurunath Systla, Principal at Eight Roads Ventures, said, “Eight Roads Ventures’ backing of Shadowfax in this third funding round reflects our belief in the Shadowfax model and its ability to deliver outstanding results to customers. It’s been a fascinating ride so far, and we are excited to see the next chapter of the Shadowfax story unfold.”

Shadowfax, founded in 2015, has successfully outrun its competitors with its unique Frodo technology, an AI based location stream processing engine which enables high frequency decision-making which in turn drives cost optimisation and enables the highest service levels in the industry. Shadowfax has been able to maintain high partner efficiency which has enabled best in class unit economics of 20% on a transaction level.
Currently present in 80+ cities across India, the company plans to increase coverage to 100+ locations in the next three months.

Since start of this year, a number of logistics startup have raised funds in a continuous chain of funding rounds. In May, Chennai-based logistics tech startup FreightBro raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from Suresh Kumar, former global CIO of Bank of New York Mellon. Prior to which, Bengaluru-based Mojro, raised $650K in a funding round led by 1Crowd and its investor community

This was followed by $2 million funding of Chennai-based Pando, in a seed funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners.

Mumbai-based startup in the CleanTech-led cold chain logistics startup, Tessol, recently raised an undisclosed amount in follow-on equity funding from early stage venture capital firm 1Crowd, and existing investors Infuse Ventures and Ankur Capital.