Chennai-based networked logistics management software startup Pando has raised about 9 million (Rs 64 crores) in a Series A funding round led by Chiratae Ventures, it announced on Monday.
The round also saw participation from Siemens-backed Next47 and existing investor Nexus Venture Partners. Notable angel investors in this round include VMWare India MD Ramkumar Narayan, Indifi CEO Alok Mittal and Saikiran Krishnamurthy of xto10x Ventures.
With this funding round, the company has raised over Rs80 crore till date.
“This investment allows us to continue to reimagine the way freight networks operate. Pando has already delivered unprecedented value to large enterprises that have joined the network. We will continue to deepen our network offering in India while scaling in select strategic markets internationally, investing in technology and talent, and enhancing our transaction capabilities by working closely with our vendor-partners,” Pando co-founder and CEO Nitin Jayakrishnan said.
Founded by Jayakrishnan and Abhijeet Manohar in 2017, Pando helps global businesses like Britannia, Marico, Philips and Tata, automate and optimise their freight management, and connects them to logistics vendors and aggregators to enable seamless transactions.
“Global Logistics is going through a disruption, and large enterprises require a platform that can help them leverage these market changes to scale faster. Pando has helped shippers and transporters address this need through a full-stack solution,” TC Meenakshisundaram, founder MD, Chiratae Ventures said.
“India is a huge market with unique infrastructure challenges; this represents a promising opportunity for local startups. Pando’s platform has already attracted several high-profile customers and we are excited to partner with them to expand their reach,” added Lak Ananth, Managing Director, Next47.
Pando is Next47’s first investment in India. Next47 is a global venture firm backed by Siemens with offices in Bangalore, Beijing, London, Munich, Palo Alto, Paris, Stockholm, and Tel Aviv.