After investing big in Flipkart, Paytm and Ola, SoftBank Group Corporation is looking to invest in another startup Rivigo Services, a transport logistics provider an amount of around $100 million as per the sources aware of the discussions.
This investment would make the three years old company at a valuation of $1 billion, one of the sources told ET, while another one pegged the potential funding at $200-300 million.
SoftBank has shown quite a big interest in Indian startups and has been ramping up investments at a rapid pace.
In April, the Tokyo-based technology-to-telecom conglomerate invested $1.4 billion in Noida-based Paytm, valuing it at about $7 billion.
Last week, it acquired a $2.5-billion stake in Flipkart, taking its total investments in Asia’s third-largest economy this year to $6 billion.
Although, Deepak Garg, CEO Rivigo, denied the company is in talks with the Japanese conglomerate. A SoftBank spokesperson declined to comment. It has raised more than $100 million in equity and debt financing from the likes of global private equity major Warburg Pincus and stage-agnostic investment firm SAIF Partners.
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The company was valued at $440 million when it closed its previous funding in November last year.
Rivigo introduced the relay model to the trucking sector so that a driver would not be at the wheel for more than 4.5 hours. At designated points, he would hand over the truck to another driver and steer a different vehicle back to where he came from. This model allows truck drivers, who are typically on the road for days and weeks, to go back home every day. Rivigo scaled up to 2,100 trucks in March with more than 4,000 drivers.
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