Abhishek Bansal is the
co-founder and CEO of Shadowfax, India's largest crowd sourced logistics
platform. He co-founded the company in 2015 with his friend Vaibhav Khandelwal.
Shadowfax, one of India's leading new-age logistics and delivery platforms,
delivered a strong financial performance in FY24, reducing its losses by 90%.
Simultaneously, the company recorded over 33% year-on-year growth in operating
revenue, and turned EBITDA positive with Rs 23 crore for the fiscal year ending
March 2024. The Flipkart-backed firm’s revenue from operations spiked to Rs
1,884.8 crore in the last fiscal year, from Rs 1,415 crore in FY23, as per its
annual financial statements filed with the Registrar of Companies. Shadowfax
claims to provide 3PL logistics (third party logistics) to e-commerce and D2C
firms across 2,500 cities and 18,000 pin codes in the country. The sale of
logistics and delivery services are the only source of revenue for Shadowfax. Co-founder
and chief executive Abhishek Bansal attributed the company’s sustainable growth
in FY24 to its focus on value-added services, including reverse logistics,
same-day delivery, and quick commerce offered through its Flash service. “While
most logistics companies have chosen to focus on a single service and
transition into B2B, Shadowfax has remained in the B2C space. Quick commerce
gives us an edge, as we are the only 3PL offering these services,” said
Abhishek Bansal, co-founder and CEO of Shadowfax.
The company also generated
Rs 11.6 crore from non-operating activities, contributing to a total income of
Rs 1,896.4 crore in FY24. On the expense side, transportation and distribution
(delivery partners) expenses accounted for the bulk of costs, surging 24.7% to
Rs 966.2 crore in FY24. This cost represents 50.63% of total expenses during
the last fiscal year. Vehicle running costs increased by 35.8% to Rs 394.5
crore, while costs related to lost shipments rose by 39.7% to Rs 94.6
crore.
Employee benefit expenses
marginally declined to Rs 211.5 crore, constituting 11.08% of total expenses,
whereas other costs added another Rs 241.5 crore. Overall, the Bengaluru-based firm’s total
expenses rose by 21.9% to Rs 1,908.3 crore in FY24.By the end of FY24, the
company's net loss declined by 92% to Rs 11.8 crore, compared to Rs 142.6 crore
in FY23. Shadowfax also achieved a positive EBITDA of Rs 23 crore in the last
fiscal. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin stood at -1.06% and 1.21%, respectively. On
a unit basis, Shadowfax spent Rs 1.01 to earn a rupee of operating income in
the last fiscal year. The company’s assets nearly doubled, rising to Rs 619.5
crore in FY24 from Rs 320.8 crore in FY23. Its cash and bank balance at the end
of FY24 stood at Rs 102.8 crore. Just before FY24 ended, Shadowfax scooped up
$100 million Series E round led by TPG NewQuest. Recently, Uber has partnered
with Shadowfax to integrate its two-wheeler fleet with UberMoto, allowing
Shadowfax to offer bike-taxi services during lean hours.