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Logistics tech startups are bound to attract investor interest again this year, due to the spike in Covid-19 across the country. Ecom Express, a logistics startup based in Delhi, raised $20 million, for example. Second, before its IPO, Unicorn Delhivery raised $3 billion in funding.
The second wave is shifting the focus of the table to technology and digital logistics in order to improve business operations. Similarly, on 21st April 2021, Ratan Tata has recently made an undisclosed amount of investment in Mailit, a Mumbai-based dispatch aggregator.
Mailit is a pioneering dispatch aggregator company headquartered in Mumbai that provides customized parcel delivery and mailroom management services. The company also has a mailroom management service, which includes bulk document and package dispatching both domestically and globally.
As of 21st April 2021, Mr. Ratan Tata, a renowned industrialist, made an investment in Mailit, a technology-driven mailroom management and logistics firm.
Although the details regarding the finances of this recent investment by Ratan Tata hasn’t been disclosed yet, Mailit happens to state that in the next five years it plans to open 500 mailrooms across India as well as fully automated warehouse and distribution centres.
Leading corporates and many blue chip companies in the Tata Group rely on Mailit for courier, parcel, mail room management digital solutions, and postal services.
Mahesh Shirodkar, founder of the company, said the investment by Ratan Tata “opens up a wider growth prospect” for the company.
“With the government reiterating its commitment to strengthening the infrastructure sector, Tata believes the Mailit IL&MS platform will bring in cost optimization, build operational efficiencies in the supply chain and create employment opportunities across India,” the company states.
This new investment by Ratan Tata came at a time when the company was looking for new ways to expand its primary business and move towards the more digitised and technical services. As a result, it made the decision to invest in Mailit for technological logistics and smooth movement.
Mailit – About and How it Works?
Mailit, a Mumbai-based dispatch aggregator, is a subsidiary of Mahesh Shirodkar’s company Shirodkar Cargo Services that provides customized parcel delivery and mailroom management services.
Mahesh Shirodkar, initiated courier services in 1987, and on March 16, 2006 his company became a private limited known as Shirodkar Cargo Services Pvt Ltd which is a business that engages in customized courier, delivery, and mailing room services. The business provides customized delivery of a variety of packages. It also involves both domestic and foreign bulk dispatch of documents and parcels.
TATA Motors, TATA Capital, TATA Hitachi, and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals are among the company’s top tier customers.
Mailit – Founder and History
Mailit Founder, Mahesh Shirodkar, exemplifies entrepreneurial zeal by taking a forward-thinking approach to any business venture he undertakes. He is a firm decision-maker with a hands-on leadership style, as are all innovative entrepreneurs.
A thousand-mile journey is said to begin with a single, progressive step. Mr. Shirodkar took the crucial step in 1987 when he established Mailit, a division of Shirodkar Cargo Services Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai. In his search for excellence, he began modestly in the Mailroom services industry, as did many of his self-made contemporaries.
It wasn’t an easy ride for him. But, guided by his unwavering desire to succeed, he embarked on a fruitful entrepreneurial journey in the 1980s, beginning with a daily wage of just INR 30 at Tata Motors. His dedication to excellence propelled him up the corporate ladder, and he soon found himself in charge of the Tata Group’s intra-office mail delivery operations.
Mailit – Operational Flow Process
First Mail Operation:
Pickup service is available at all Pin Codes that are serviceable.
First-mile operations at major metros need a dedicated team and fleet.
Processing and Connection:
Shipments are processed and linked at metros by processing units.
Streamlined processing to ensure that communications are made quickly and without any delays.
A large network of several co-loaders ensures timely connections by air, rail, and road.
Delivery:
Same day delivery attempt at every location
Constant follow-up to all locations is performed centrally.
Maintain an average delivery strike rate of >85% at all locations.
Average delivery efficiency is >94%, with overall returns of 6%.
Mailit – Name, Logo and Tagline
Mailit’ s logo consists of two ‘location-icons’ which clearly depicts its services.
Mailit Logo
Mailit – Vision and Mission
Mailit’ s vision statement says, “Unmatched Convenience at Best Price to deliver the full-service innovative dispatch management system to help you save on cost and time in addition to providing unmatched convenience.”
Mailit’ s mission statement says, “To deliver Superior Service Experience through our bespoke Mailroom Management services at an affordable price in a quick turnaround time.”
The Mailit business strategy is to create India’s first digitally integrated logistics and mailroom solutions (IL&MS) platform, which will provide much-needed convergence, performance, and exposure to a fragmented market.
Mailit’ s IL&MS is a digital interface that integrates Mailroom Management, Logistics, and Distribution. Mailit aims to transform the logistics landscape by consolidating the entire supply chain, enabling seamless end-to-end delivery with real-time visibility, and thereby lowering overall logistics and transportation costs.
The business provides customized delivery of a variety of packages. It also involves both domestic and foreign bulk dispatch of documents and parcels. In Print and Post facilities, the company collects variable data from customers, which is then processed using cutting-edge technology to print, stamp, and mail documents on their behalf.
Mailit – Partners
Mailit’ s partners include Bluedart, Gati, First Flight, DTDC, FedEx, htc, Track On, and The Professional Couriers.
Mailit – Competitors
Mailit’ s competitive set include these competitors:
In the next five years, Mailit expects to open 500 mailrooms across India, as well as fully automated warehouses and distribution centres. With the government reiterating its commitment to strengthening the infrastructure sector, Mr. Ratan Tata believes the Mailit IL&MS platform will bring in cost optimization, build operational efficiencies in the supply chain and create employment opportunities across India.
Mahesh Shirodkar, Founder & CMD of Mailit, commented on Mr. Tata’s investment, saying, ““We are truly thankful to Shri Ratan Tata for showing faith in us and investing in Mailit. It opens up a wider growth prospect for us and we intend to scale up the operations across geographies. With our state-of-the-art operations and trained professionals backed by the use of the most innovative technologies available today, Mailit expects an upward trajectory from here on.”
Mailit – FAQs
What does Mailit do?
Mailit is a pioneering dispatch aggregator company headquartered in Mumbai that provides customized parcel delivery and mailroom management services.
Who founded Mailit?
Mahesh Shirodkar founded Mailit.
Which company owns Mailit?
Mailit is subsidiary of Shirodkar Cargo Services Pvt Ltd.
What companies do Mailit compete with?
Mailit’ s competitive set include these competitors: Fareye, Shadowfax, Loginext, Locus, ElasticRun, 4tigo, and Leap India.
“If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together.” – Ratan Tata, Tata Group
Ratan Tata is a prolific investor and has made numerous investment in many Startups. His style of investment and funding are revered by many across the globe. And his investments are known to emerge as giants in their respective sectors with time. Ola Cabs is an example.
An investment from Ratan Tata gives a boost to startups in terms of publicity, acquiring finances, and brand-building. Here is a list of the startups that Ratan Tata has funded over the years. Consequently, the behemoth organization of Ratan tata – Tata Group has also infiltrated a number of markets such as telecom, software, groceries, and fashion.
Latest News
22 April, 2021 – Ratan Tata has recently made an undisclosed amount of investment in Mailit which is a Mumbai based logistics startup serving a lot of big corporates including Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, etc.
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The Recent investment by Ratan Tata was in 2021, as he invested in Mailit, a technology-driven mailroom management and logistics company. The terms of the investment are undisclosed but it comes at at a time when Mailit is planning to launch 500 mailrooms across India in addition to establishing fully mechanised warehouses and distribution centres in the next five years.
Tork Motors
Tork motors | Ratan Tata Investment
Tork Motors is a Pune-based electric motorcycle startup. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in Tork Motors in October 2019. He saw potential in the company and found the team to be commendable. Apart from Ratan Tata, Bharat Forge and Bhavish Aggarwal (Ola Cabs’ founder) have also invested in Tork Motors.
Snapdeal
Snapdeal | Ratan Tata Investment
Snapdeal is India’s first online marketplace for multiple categories. It has received funding from Ebay and Alibaba. Snapdeal was launched by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in February 2010. It has over 3 lakh sellers and hosts over 3 crore products across 800+ diverse categories from more than 1,25,000 regional, national, and international brands and retailers.
Ratan Tata made an investment in Snapdeal soon after Flipkart’s acquisition of Myntra. He bought 256 shares from the e-commerce venture’s angel investors. This move not only protected Snapdeal from losing market share but also prevented any potential attempt by Flipkart to monopolize the e-commerce segment.
Cure.fit is a health and fitness startup that has raised $170 million from investors like Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Chiratae Ventures, and Ratan Tata to date.
Cure.fit maintains a chain of fitness centers (under the ‘Cult.fit’ brand), a food delivery platform called ‘Eat.fit’, a chain of healthcare clinics called ‘Care.fit’, and the recently launched online mental-wellness platform called ‘Mind.fit’.
Paytm started out as a mobile recharging platform and later became an online marketplace for multiple categories. It became India’s first payment bank after receiving a license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Ratan Tata Made an investment in Paytm by raising a funding of INR 1 crore in March 2015 for One97 Communications – the parent company of Paytm. This funding fetched him the position of a business advisor on One97 Communications’ board.
Paytm is now among the most successful digital payment companies with millions of subscribers. It thrived when the demonetization scheme was implemented in India in November 2018. At present, the company’s gross merchandise value (GMV) is over $1 billion.
Ola is India’s first home-grown cab aggregator service and one of the nine Indian unicorn startups valued at $5 billion. The app allows users to book a taxi on their smartphone at the best fares. Ola provides cab services across price segments that range from economy to luxury.
Ratan Tata funded Ola in July 2015, 5 years after the company began its operations in 2010. He invested INR 95 lakhs in the company in personal capacity. Ratan Tata made also an investment through his investment company – RNT Capital Advisors – of INR 400 crores in Ola.
Repos Energy
Repos Energy | Ratan Tata Investment
Aditi Bhosale Walunj and Chetan Walunj founded Repos Energy. Repos Energy is a Pune-based startup responsible for the doorstep delivery of fuel to industries. It works using cloud-based technology and IoT devices. Customers can order diesel on the Repos app. A Repos petrol pump operator then arrives at the customer’s location and completes the diesel delivery. Ratan Tata made an undisclosed amount of investment in this startup.
ClimaCell
Climacell | Ratan Tata Funded Startup
ClimaCell is an app developed by Rei Goffer, Shimon Elkabetz, and Itai Zlotnik that provides accurate weather forecast to alert people about upcoming floods. It uses day-to-day devices as environmental sensors. ClimaCell focuses on error-free weather predictions and has garnered a lot of attention.
Ratan Tata participated in ClimaCell’s seed round funding in September 2016. ClimaCell has acquired $70 million over three rounds of funding.
Abra
Abra Logo | Ratan Tata Investment
Ratan Tata has also made an investment in a Silicon Valley based bitcoin startup with American Express where he with American Express invested $12 million in Abra. People can store digital cash and send money to any smartphone using Abra’s app. Abra earns money when users buy or sell digital currency through its app.
CarDekho
CarDekho Logo | Ratan tata Funded Startups
CarDekho is India’s leading car search venture that helps users purchase the right cars. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in GirnarSoft – the parent company of CarDekho, BikeDekho, and PriceDekho portals.
The CarDekho app has rich automotive content that includes expert reviews, detailed specs and prices, comparisons, and the visuals of the different car brands and models available in India.
The company deals with many automobile manufacturers, more than 4000 car dealers, and numerous financial institutions to facilitate the purchase of vehicles. The CarDekho portal accounts for about 30% of the automobile manufacturers’ combined annual sales today.
Holachef
Hola Chef | Ratan tata Funded Startups
Holachef was founded by Saxena and Anil Gelra in 2014. Holachef connects expert chefs with consumers via its website and mobile app (available for both Android and iOS platforms). The platform offers a new menu everyday and delivers food in a state-of-the-art packaging. Holachef received an undisclosed amount of investment from Ratan Tata in September 2015.
Ola-owned food delivery firm Foodpanda has acquired Holachef.
FirstCry is a baby care e-commerce platform. FirstCry is owned by BrainBees Solutions. It follows an omni-channel strategy of selling through online and offline stores. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in this startup in January 2016.
Lenskart
Lenskart Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startup
Lenskart is a popular online retailer for eyewear. It was also been added to the list of companies invested by Tata as it secured funding from Ratan Tata in April 2016; the amount is undisclosed.
Lenskart sells sunglasses, eye glasses, contact lenses, and more. The officials from Lenskart said that Ratan Tata’s role was more of a mentor and an advisor than a financial investor. Some of the investors in Lenskart are TPG Group, IDG Ventures India, and Unilazer Ventures founder Ronnie Screwvala.
NestAway
nestaway logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
NestAway allows users to find, book, and move-in to a rental home of their choice across Indian cities. NestAway’s aim is to provide better rental solutions with the help of design and technology. The company presently caters to more than 35,000 tenants and 16,000 owners, providing homes to over 7000 families in cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and others. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in NestAway Technologies Pvt. Ltd. in December 2017.
Urban Ladder is an online furniture seller. Urban Ladder was founded by Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa in July 2012. It currently offers over 1,000 products across 25 furniture categories such as wardrobes, beds, sofas, dining tables, and coffee tables. The online retailer secured funding from Ratan Tata in November 2015.
UrbanCompany
Urban Company Logo
UrbanCompany, previously known as UrbanClap, is a local services marketplace that raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Ratan Tata in December 2015. It is also funded by Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.
The UrbanCompany app allows the online booking of services such as plumbing, electric work, beauty treatments, and salon. UrbanCompany has successfully penetrated the services sector and bridged the gap between workers and consumers. People can now easily overcome the challenges of household hurdles, troubles, fixtures, and anything related through UrbanCompany.
GOQii
Goqii Logo | Ratan tata funded Startups
GOQii makes healthcare watches that are similar to smart watches. It also makes GOQii Stride, a device people can attach to their shoes and keep track of the number of steps, etc. GOQii’s platform provides tools for real-time personalized coaching, scheduling health check-ups, and securing information in a health locker. GOQii was founded in 2014 by Vishal Gondal. It joined the list of Ratan Tata-backed startups after he invested an undisclosed amount in October 2016.
This might come across as an interesting trivia—Ratan Tata is the first Indian to buy a stake in Xiaomiandhe has also made an undisclosed amount of investment in the company. Xiaomi is the world’s fourth largest smartphone manufacturer and is based out of China. The brand is very popular in India. It entered the Indian market in 2014. The Chinese tech giant sells smartphones, laptops, air purifiers, tablets, LED TVs, fitness bands and more.
Some senior executives from Xiaomi were quoted saying that they would seek Ratan Tata’s advice on how to expand globally.
Lybrate
Lybrate Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
Lybrate was founded in 2013. It connects patients and doctors. Lybrate launched an online lab testing facility in May 2016. A patient’s sample is collected right from his or her home and the results are then shared online. Lybrate secured about INR 64.8 crores ($10.2 million) funding from Ratan Tata in July 2019.
Infinite Analytics is a U.S. and Mumbai-based startup founded by two MITians – Akash Bhatia and Purushotam Bolta. It became Microsoft Dynamics AX’s first global OEM partner four months after Ratan Tata has also made an investment in this startup in August 2015.
Infinite Analytics is a cloud-based big data startup that predicts consumer behavior based on information shared by users on social networking sites. Infinite Analytics analyses raw data, maps out a person’s social genome, and then gives personalized recommendations to consumer brands with online presence. This information, which is collected without breaking privacy laws, allows a retailer to identify and recommend products that will appeal to customers. Infinite Analytics has expanded its predictive analytics technology to verticals beyond retail and e-commerce.
CashKaro
Cashkaro Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
CashKaro is a cashback and coupons website that provides 30% cashback to customers who shop on its affiliates’ platforms. These platforms include Amazon, Paytm, Jabong, and ShopClues. The Gurgaon-based company was founded by Swati and Rohan Bhargava in 2013 and raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Ratan Tata in January 2016.
Cashkaro generates revenue by taking commission from retailers and sharing a portion of it with customers in the form of cashback. It is the largest cashback website in India with over 10 lakh registered users and has given net cashback of more than INR 30 crores.
DogSpot
Dogspot Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startups
DogSpot is a Gurgaon-based online pet care platform that handles about 60,000 orders on a monthly basis with an average basket size of INR 1,700. DogSpot also promotes pet-centric events, drives, and related content. The startup was founded in 2007 and is run by PetsGlam Services Pvt. Ltd.
Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in his personal capacity in DogSpot in January 2016. Ronnie Screwvala also invested in DogSpot alongside Ratan Tata.
BlueStone
Bluestone Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startups
Bluestone.com is an online platform for purchasing jewelry. BlueStone was founded by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha in 2011. BlueStone is backed by Ratan Tata and has also received a funding from him in 2014. It offers over 5,000 jewelry designs and plans to scale to 30,000 designs in the next three years.
Zivame
Zivame Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startup
Bangalore-based Zivame was founded in 2011 by Richa Kar and Kapil Karekar. Zivame is an online platform for one’s lingerie needs. It has raised $48 million in four years. The startup gained popularity through its quirky campaigns and is a well-known name today. Zivame received funding from Ratan Tata in September 2015.
Generic Aadhaar
Generic Aadhaar | Ratan Tata funded Startup
Ratan Tata has invested undisclosed amount in Generic Aadhaar, a Maharashtra-based pharmaceutical startup. Arjun Deshpande founded Generic Aadhaar in 2018. Generic Aadhaar provides generic medicines from reputed pharmaceutical companies at discounted rates—up to 80% cheaper than the retail price. It offers a catalog comprising branded, generic, homeopathy, and Ayurveda medicines from government-approved manufacturing facilities.
Generic Aadhaar aims to partner with 1000 pharmacies through a franchisee model in the coming months and expand its reach to places like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi, Goa, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.
What are the names of some Ratan Tata funded startups?
Some startups funded by Ratan Tata are Ola cabs, Zivame, Paytm, Snapdeal, Xiaomi, Urban Ladder, UrbanCompany, Cash Karo, and Abra.
What sector does Ratan Tata like to fund in?
Ratan Tata does not prefer any specific sectors. He has funded startups in sectors ranging from e-commerce and real estate to electric mobility and food delivery.
The Tata Group has already made its super-application desire open for public in August. Walmart investment in Tata group is presently in the news with the investors for stakes in the digital media, legitimately taking on Jio and the web-based business platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. As per the news of Walmart investment in Tata group by Bloomberg, it is taking an eye at getting monetary or strategic consultants, and Tata Sons is apparently hoping to unite its digital platforms and make another institution.
This exclusive information of Walmart investment in Tata group has been released by Reliance Industries Ltd, which is authorized by the richest person in Asia, Mukesh Ambani. He apparently accumulated over $20 billion from various investors such as Facebook, Alphabet’s Google, KKR and Co and Silver Lake Partners. He made this possible by selling the stakes in its digital business Jio Platforms. According to the progressing conversations among about the Walmart investment in Tata group, the super app could be dispatched as a joint endeavor among Tata and Walmart, which will empower utilizing on the collaborations between Tata’s web-based business and Flipkart.
The Walmart investment in Tata group presents the ‘super app’, which targets to make a computerized administrations behemoth offering a wide scope of items in the market space. A super app is a solitary application that provides a varied scope of aids. These services range from food, money related solutions, computerized administrations, and academic training, among others. They have focused on a developing populace of well informed customers, tempting them with concessions, free returns and simple trades.
This app from Walmart investment in Tata group is regarded as an idea is more or less famous in Southeast Asian nations where other applications, for instance, Grab, GoJek and Meituan are also broadly utilized by the people there. The business of Walmart investment in Tata group is probably going to be facilitated under the Tata Sons auxiliary, where it alongside Tata’s other retail channels such as Tata Cliq, StarQuik, Tata Sky, Tanishq and Croma, which is going to get converted into one app.
As per the continuous talks about the Walmart investment in Tata group, the new advanced stage business is proposed to be controlled by Tata-Walmart together, and there could be more international financial investors roped in too. Goldman Sachs has been assigned as the venture financier by Walmart for the proposed exchange, as has been reported by one of the anonymous source.
More About The Unity
Walmart’s Investments
To add more, it has been accounted that the Walmart group is already having talks with the Tata group for planned-investments in the business, “Tata group share is in talks with Walmart for a deal entailing a strategic Walmart investment in Tata group share in the super app platform business. The Walmart investment could touch up to $20-25 billion eventually for a large stake in the proposed super app that is about to be hosted under a Tata Sons subsidiary”, according to the sources reported by Mint. This investment is apparently going be bigger than the investments made by Walmart in Flipkart for a authorizing stake, which summed up to $16 billion.
The super app from the Walmart investment in Tata group share has already been planned to get dispatched in India in the month of December or January. It will then unite Tata’s shopper business under one channel offering a wide scope of items in the market space, as per the information by Mint. The things that will be included in the offering medical care, food and staple requesting, protection and budgetary services which also including style, way of life, gadgets, over-the-top administrations, instruction and bill installments, etc.
Tata’s purchaser organizations incorporate the brand Titan, which is primarily the brand for watch and jewelry, Trent. Portions of shares from Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Tata Steel increased over 1% each, with TCS the top lift to the Nifty 50 list. Tata Consumer Products generally offers tea, coffee, water, salt, lentils, spices, ready-made things to eat, sugar, and few such things to sell. Titan Co. Ltd. fabricates and markets design adornments, for example, watches, jewelries and eye-wear.
Walmart Investment in Tata Group
If this deal becomes a success by the Walmart investment in Tata group, it will top its shares in Flipkart, for which the U.S. based organization had already paid $16 billion for a 66% stake. Juxtaposing with platforms like Jio or Amazon, Tata groups is having the biggest establishment of its own marked items that are offered to retail clients.
This is the latest news from Walmart investment in Tata group share. We will also keep you updated more about this information as soon as the news is out in the air. So, stay tuned to get updated about super app India as this is the latest Walmart investment in India.
Mandagiri Praveen Kumar Reddy
