Flipkart-backed logistics startup BlackBuck plans IPO; to raise up to $300 million

BlackBuck, a logistics startup backed by Flipkart, is looking to go public in the next fiscal year aiming to raise as much as $300 million, said two people aware of the development.

“They recently appointed merchant bankers and lawyers to advise on their proposed initial public offering (IPO) and have started work on the preparation of their draft red herring prospectus. They are looking to file the DRHP with the full FY24 financial numbers. The company is looking to hit the market with its IPO in the second half of FY25,” said one of the sources cited above.

Started in 2015, BlackBuck, run by Zinka Logistic Solutions Pvt Ltd, is a B2B online trucking platform that connects companies looking to ship goods with truckers and vice versa. It also has a services business that sells GPS tracking devices, FASTags and fuel cards.

Its customers include companies such as Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Petrochemicals, Hindustan Zinc and Marico, among others.The IPO
The IPO will be a mix of a fresh issue of shares to raise money for the business as well as a secondary sale of shares by existing investors of the company, the source said. The eventual size of the offering will depend on the quantum of the secondary share sale, which is yet to be finalised, the source added. “These are early days and the company and its investors are still in discussions over the secondary share sale component of the deal,” the source said.

The company will use the IPO proceeds to scale up its services business, which it has been focusing on ramping up in recent years, as well as to grow its core freight business.

BlackBuck became a unicorn — a startup with a valuation of at least $1 billion — in 2021 when it raised $67 million as a part of its Series E funding round at a valuation of $1.02 billion. The fundraise was led by US-based Tribe Capital, IFC Emerging Asia Fund and VEF. Existing investors including Wellington Management, Sands Capital and Finance Corporation also participated in that round.

An email sent to BlackBuck did not elicit a response. Text messages and an email sent to the company’s founder Rajesh Yabaji too went unanswered.Financials
BlackBuck’s consolidated revenue from operations declined 15 percent in FY23 to Rs 704.18 crore, from Rs 832.57 crore in the previous year, according to company filings with the registrar of companies.

Its loss increased marginally to Rs 290.47 crore in FY23 as against a loss of Rs 284.55 crore in the year-ago period.

Tech IPOs
Tech startups have had a tough time since 2022 as funding has dried up following global central banks sharply hiking interest rates to cope with high inflation in the developed economies. Since then, the Indian IPO market has seen just a couple of major startups such as Delhivery and Mamaearth come to the public markets.

But after a hiatus of two years, new-age technology company IPOs are expected to come back to the Indian market this year.

In December, Ola Electric filed its draft IPO papers with the markets regulator. Go Digit General Insurance and FirstCry have also filed their draft IPO papers and are awaiting regulatory nod to go ahead with their share sales.

Food delivery startup Swiggy and payment gateway company PayU are also reported to be working on their respective IPOs, which could come to the market this year.

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