Nuvo Logistics Pvt. Ltd, which also runs online grocer PepperTap, posted a profit in 2014-15 on higher demand for its business of handling product returns, official data showed. The Reverse logistics firm posted a profit of Rs.87 lakh on revenue of Rs.19.5 crore, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies.
In August 2013, Nuvo logistics had posted a revenue of Rs.61 lakh for the eight-month period ending March 2014 at a loss of Rs.41 lakh.
Nuvo Logistics was launched to test the waters in logistics before entering the business-to-consumer (B2C) space. It fulfils almost 10,000-12,000 orders a day and operates across 30 cities in India. Considering the boom in online world they switch into hyperlocal delivery services of groceries under the brand name PepperTap in November 2014, earned most of its revenues from the reverse logistics business during 2014-15.
At an event in December, Navneet Singh, co-founder of Nuvo Logistics had said that Nuvo was considering hiving PepperTap off into a separate entity, since it is a fast-growing business. He had also said PepperTap was yet to turn profitable, but declined to share a timeline.
PepperTap, on the other hand, has operations in 18 cities and fulfils close to 20,000 orders a day. It aims to service 90,000 orders a day by the end of December 2016. However, the company, which in September planned to double its staff to 5,000 and expand operations to 75 cities, now plans to go slow on expansion.It stopped operations in smaller cities such as Agra and Meerut nearly four months ago after pilot projects showed no serious traction.
PepperTap has grown from $1 million GMV (gross merchandise value, or the cost of goods sold) at the start of 2015-16 to $50 million GMV on 21 December 2015.
Backed by Sequoia Capital and SAIF Partners, Nuvo Logistics has raised over $51 million since 2013. Other investors in the company include Russia’s Ru-net, Japanese private equity firms JAFCO and BeeNext, venture debt firm Innoven Capital and online marketplace Snapdeal.
Co-founder Singh held close to 58.12% shares in the company until March 2015. In September, Snapdeal along with new investors including Ru-net, JAFCO and BeeNext picked up an undisclosed stake in the company.
Nuvo last month acquired delivery start-up Jiffstore for an undisclosed amount in a cash and stock deal.