Snapdeal acquires 20% stake in GoJavas for Rs120 crore

New Delhi: Online marketplace Snapdeal, owned by Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd, has acquired a 20% stake in logistics firm GoJavas for ₹ 120 crore, according to official documents reviewed by Mint.

The deal values GoJavas at close to ₹ 600 crore, as per the documents.

Snapdeal on Tuesday announced that it had bought a minority stake in GoJavas, as part of a strategic agreement that will help the company lock in a long-term partner for last-mile delivery. It did not divulge details of the agreement.

Snapdeal is also looking to invest more than $150-200 million in the next one year in logistics and supply chain, said Rohit Bansal, co-founder of Snapdeal, at a press briefing.

Bansal denied that the partnership could lead to an eventual buyout of GoJavas and said Snapdeal was open to partnerships with other logistics providers too.

“The size of the market has grown significantly and it is absolutely critical for us to ensure that the capacity gets built. The co-investment is to only ensure that this capacity is created for the future,” Bansal said. “It will not change anything for GoJavas and they will continue to run their operations the way they have been.”

According to Bansal, Snapdeal is very clear about not starting its own logistics firm.

Most large e-commerce companies such as Flipkart, Myntra and Amazon have their own last-mile logistics support in order to wield better control over the delivery time and experience.

Snapdeal has so far stayed away from putting in place its own in-house logistics and currently works with third-party delivery companies such as Blue Dart, GoJavas and Ecom Express.

Founded in 2013, GoJavas counts online retailers such as Jabong, Fabfurnish, Healthkart, Yepme and Lenskart among its clients, catering to around 30,000 consumers in 85 cities per day.

GoJavas has been looking for an investor for more than a month now, according to two people aware of the development. They spoke on condition of anonymity.

Snapdeal is in talks to buy online recharge and couponing service provider FreeCharge for an undisclosed amount, Mint reported earlier this month.

Snapdeal, which raised in excess of $1 billion last year from investors, including Japan’s SoftBank Corp., is eyeing as many as five acquisitions in the technology space this year, Mint reported in February.

Online retail is expected to be worth $6 billion this year, a 70% increase over 2014 sales of
$3.5 billion, according to technology researcher Gartner Inc. E-commerce represents less than 4% of the total retail market, according to a Gartner report published in October.​