WIZ Freight, a Chennai-based supply-chainstart up, has raised Series B funding of ₹125 crore in equity. This was led by Japan-based SBI Investment at a post-money valuation of ₹1,400 crore, registering a 50 per cent jump in the valuation from its last round. The company plans to raise the Series B round in two tranches.
The three-year-old company assists exporters and importers to book and manage their shipments in their platform.
The current fund raise is a part of the larger round which the company intends to close this year. The round also saw participation from Tiger Global, NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS, Axilor Technologies Fund, Foundamental, Arali Investments, Unikon Shipping Ventures and a few family offices.
The company plans to grow its global operations in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the US with the new investment and further enhance its technology-driven logistics solutions, says a release.
WIZ Freight raised in March 2022 a Series A funding of ₹275 crores in a mix of equity and debt led by Tiger Global with participation from Axilor Ventures, Foundamental, Arali Ventures, Alteria Capital and Stride Ventures.
Founded in January 2020 in Chennai by serial entrepreneurs Ramkumar Govindarajan and Ramkumar Ramachandran, Wiz helps exporters and importers in emerging markets book and manage their cross-border shipments on its tech platform with e-commerce-like convenience. Its AI-powered platform offers instant capacity discovery, dynamic pricing, optimised routing, door to door tracking, and automated customizable document workflows, saving countless hours for shippers.
Ramachandran, Co-founder, Chairman, WIZ, said the company will double its workforce at the Tech and R&D Center in Chennai, currently employing around 200 employees. In FY23, the company reported revenue of ₹1,325 crore and is expecting to maintain a similar revenue run rate in FY24, he said.
WIZ has recently signed a MoU with the Tamil Nadu government for a proposed investment of ₹300 crore in the State over the next five years and is expected to create 2000 more jobs, said Govindarajan, Co-founder and CEO, WIZ.
Wiz currently has a team of around 850 employees across 30 locations in India and five countries. With a network of more than 200 carriers and vendors, the startup serves over 1,500 businesses, including Adani, Mahindra and Tata - using the WIZ platform to ship cargo over land and sea, he said.