New Delhi: Snapdeal, owned by Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd, has infused ₹ 117 crore of fresh capital into logistics firm GoJavas, making the online marketplace single largest shareholder in the company, official documents show.
Snapdeal, which in March bought a 20% stake in GoJavas for ₹ 120 crore, will now hold 42% of the logistics firm, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies.
The official filings indicate that Snapdeal has also bought some secondary stake in GoJavas during the last six months. Mint could not independently verify the financial details.
Interestingly, the deal values GoJavas at ₹ 600 crore, the same price at which the last fund raising was done nearly six months ago. It is a sign that the days of eye-popping valuations for India’s e-commerce start-ups may be nearing an end.
The overvalued e-commerce sector in India could see some correction in the next six to nine months, Mint reported in August.
The money raised in the current round will be used towards working capital and business development, according to the documents.
Snapdeal and GoJavas did not respond to email queries and phone messages.
Snapdeal picked up a stake in GoJavas in March as part of a strategic agreement to ensure it has a long-term partner for last-mile delivery that will help build capacity for the future. Snapdeal founders at that moment had denied any plans of an eventual buyout of GoJavas.
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 had so far stayed away from putting in place its own in-house logistics and currently works with multiple third-party delivery companies, including Blue Dart and Ecom Express.
However, the increasing control over GoJavas seems to indicate that Snapdeal is trying to build its version of ekart, which is Flipkart’s logistics support.
Founded in 2013, GoJavas counts online retailers such as Jabong, Fabfurnish, Yepme, Lenskart and Healthkart as clients. GoJavas has more than 100,000 square feet warehouses under its management and offers its services across 300 cities and towns in 2,900-plus postal districts.
Some of the large shareholders in GoJavas include Ashish Choudhary, Randhir Singh and Jabong co-founder Praveen Sinha.
For the year ended 31 March, GoJavas reported revenues of about ₹ 208 crore compared with ₹ 41.5 crore in the same period a year ago. The company, on account of high expenses, reported a loss of ₹ 4.3 crore for the year ended March from a profit after tax of ₹ 1.5 crore in the year-ago period.
Earlier this week, Gurgaon-based Snapdeal bought a minority stake in hyperlocal grocery delivery firm PepperTap for an undisclosed amount as part of its latest push into hyperlocal segment.
Snapdeal was founded by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal as a daily deals platform, selling coupons to groups of customers but later converted the company to a marketplace in 2011, first offering services and then adding a wide range of products including apparel, books and electronics through third-party merchants.
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