E-comm boom creating space for ancillary startups, Delivree King hopes to cash on the logistics sector

Logistics companies are mushrooming at every corner on a daily basis this leads one to wonder whether it is even possible for a new venture to distinguish itself from the pack. Startups will have to offer a radical product if they want to carve a niche for themselves in the logistics sector. Some ventures are doing that by bringing about significant improvements in the process or timing of deliveries.

Delivree King is a premium delivery-cum-promotion service provider, which not only provides four-hour delivery, guaranteed same- and next-day delivery, but also offers promotional services for its clients.

The start

Neeraj Bisht (Co-founder & CEO) & Akash Sharma (Co-founder & COO) have known each other since 2010, when Akash came to Delhi to join IIT. They met through a common friend at a party. Neeraj completed his law degree in 2012 and then joined Thomson Reuters. He quit a year later to start his own company Giftooz.com that dealt with corporate gifting. The venture didn’t takeoff as planned, but Neeraj enjoyed being an entrepreneur so much that he stayed on the lookout for another big idea.

Akash worked in Housing.com after graduation in 2014. Then the duo decided to capitalize on the e-commerce boom by starting their own logistics company. It went live this year on 26^th February. They felt that there was scope in the space although there were other players. Neeraj states, “The rising volume of transactions meant that quality of service was sometimes compromised. Also, product requirements are either immediate or urgent. We wanted to set our startup apart by giving customers their products as fast as possible.”

Along with premium logistics services, the team also offers promotional services such as collecting video reviews from consumers, and distributing coupons and vouchers. This way, the venture facilitates a direct connection between the consumer and the client.

The growth story

Delivree King has delivered nearly 30,000 packages in three months, and will hit 50,000 deliveries by June. They started operations on 1^st March, 2015, working out of a small office with a team size of five, catering to one city. Currently, they are handling more than 18,000 shipments a month, with a team size of 60, achieving 100% same day deliveries. The venture has three offices in Delhi, nine in India, and 10 clients, including Lenskart, Happily Unmarried, Talking Threads, eCourierz, Pick Parcel, Meal Hopper, and Omsi. Delivree King has also signed SLAs with more than six large e-commerce ventures.

The team believes that specialization is the key to providing good service. Delivree King has separate teams for same-day delivery, four-hour delivery and the 120 minute reverse pick-up. At first, the company offered employees salaries higher than market rates to attract the best talent in logistics. Experienced employees from larger firms joined Delivree King to facilitate the package delivery process, and in turn contributed to the creation of a strong team. They have stayed on because of the promise of growth and competitive wages.

Offering promotional activities has also helped the firm win more clients. The founders do not want to be labelled ‘just another delivery company’, and are determined to change the way the logistics sector is perceived. They feel happiest when they have kept a promise to the customer and by deliveringa product on time.

The future

Delivree King has raised seed funding from Sumit Agarwal (Head Partner Network, Nimbuzz) and Vipula Malhotra (Mumbai Angel). They are hoping to get more funding soon to channel towards the development of a mobile app, which customers can use to provide reviews, track their product real-time, and receive notifications about delivery.

The venture is also planning to expand its operations in the country, especially in all metros and the North-East. By this June, they are looking to establish their presence in more than 15 cities, including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Indore, Jaipur, Agra, Dehradun, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chandigarh. The team is currently looking into channels that enable same-day delivery in other cities, and hopes that scaling up will help them move into other exciting sectors, including local food delivery and hyper-local logistics.