Locus, a supply chain automation company, on Wednesday announced a USD 50 million fund raise in a round led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, for an undisclosed stake. The fund raise, which also saw participation from Qualcomm Ventures and existing investors Tiger Global and Falcon Edge, besides angel investors Amrish Rau of Pine Labs, Kunal Shah of Cred, Raju Reddy of Sierra Atlantic, and Deb Deep Sengupta of SAP, will be utilized for expanding its geographical reach and upping research and development.
The company, which has its roots in an app for women safety started after the ‘Nirbhaya’ gangrape in New Delhi in 2014, had raised USD 30 million from external investors across rounds till now. “Quality and patient capital allows us to focus on path-breaking R&D, helping us deliver exceptional long-term value to our customers, over incremental improvements. We will be recruiting more PhDs in our data science team and are looking to double our patents by 2022, its chief executive Nishith Rastogi said.
The company uses deep machine learning and proprietary algorithms to offer smart supply chain solutions to customers, and its solutions have resulted in USD 150 million savings in logistics costs, 70 million km reductions in distance travelled, and 17 million kg reduction in GHG emissions for clients across sectors, the statement said. It works for clients in North America, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Indian subcontinent, from offices in the US, the UK, India, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Germany. We are now looking to support our customers with a global footprint. Other than the geographies we are already present in, we are also investing heavily in Latin America and aggressively building our presence there, added Rastogi.
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