Loggi raises US$150 million, becomes Brazil’s newest unicorn

Contxto – Loggi, the Brazilian logistics startup, announced this Wednesday that it raised US$150 million. This new round, led by SoftBank, raised the company’s valuation to US$1 billion, making it Latin America’s most recent unicorn.

In Summary

With this recent funding, the São Paulo-based company now aims to accelerate growth and handle deliveries nationwide.

Founded in 2013 by Fabian Mendez, Arthur Debert and Eduardo Wexler, Loggi is a logistics startup determined to transform the industry via technology. To be exact, it uses a “logistics-as-a-service” platform. This is especially useful for eCommerce and local commerce businesses struggling with the delivery and transport of goods.

In terms of logistics, Loggi sends requests to nearby couriers available to perform deliveries. The app calculates the fee and route for the deliverer. Contrary to other B2C services, Loggi’s model actually relies on businesses to request the platform’s services.

The round was also joined by GGV Capital, Fifth Wall and Velt Partners, as well as Microsoft.

In-Depth

To date, the startup has raised around US$295 million in total funding. SoftBank’s Vision Fund committed and deployed US$100 million to the startup in 2018, believing in the potential of the Brazilian eCommerce market.

For instance, the country spends around 12.7 percent of its GDP on logistics costs, including storage and transportation. Comparing this number to 7.8 percent in the US, it is clear why the market might seem attractive to the investors.

According to the CEO, over the next five years, the company is planning to deliver five million packages on a daily basis. This is certainly ambitious, considering the fact that Loggi currently transports around 100 thousand packages per day. Moreover, it makes 3 million deliveries a month in 33 cities, with 10,000 motorcycle drivers and vans drivers.

For this, the company plans to delve deep into the tech side of the business, not just operations. Robotics, AI and big data are technologies Loggi wants to leverage to calculate the best delivery routes and optimal timing. In fact, the company is building a team of over one thousand programmers to pursue the macro vision.

While Loggi’s immediate plans focus on increasing the coverage and volume of deliveries within Brazil, international targets will be established in the future. Mendez believes that the startup will be able to make an IPO and expand operations to other Latin American countries. At the moment, though, there aren’t any official dates for this expansion.

-VC