Bengaluru: Locofast, a full-service tech-first supply chain platform for fashion manufacturers & lifestyle brands, has raised $15 million in Series A, a round co-led by Stellaris Venture Partners and Chiratae Ventures with participation from Kris Gopalakrishnan’s fund – Axilor Ventures. The round also saw participation from notable angel investors including Suhail Sameer (CEO, BharatPe), Amit Lakhotia (Founder & CEO, Park+), Nitin Gupta (Founder & CEO, Uni) among others. Alongside equity, the company has also raised debt from strategic partners such as Stride Ventures and BlackSoil Capital.
Locofast was founded by serial entrepreneurs Deepak Wadhwa and Mohit Piplani (who previously founded WeAreHolidays, a travel marketplace) to address the currently broken textile supply chain through a platform connecting vendors and suppliers from all over the world. Locofast’s prowess in technology, combined with a strong operational experience is disrupting the supply chain by making it smarter, efficient, and more transparent. In two years of inception, Locofast has expanded rapidly and partnered with over 500+ suppliers who have collectively executed 5000+ orders of textiles pan – India. The company has touched the supply chain of 700+ brands of some of the big players in the apparel industry including supply chain partners for Zara and H&M as well as TJX, Cotton:On and Primark.
With this fund, Locofast will invest in technology, expand reach to more than 15 cities in India and launch three new product categories while enabling SMEs to scale their business. Furthermore, the company will also continue to expand its workforce while also focusing on growth for existing teams.
Deepak Wadhwa, Founder & CEO, Locofast said, “Despite being a major contributor to India’s GDP, the textile industry is fragmented and slow in terms of technological adoption. With our previous entrepreneurial experience coupled with technical expertise, on-ground study of the ecosystem and understanding of SME functioning, our mission is to enable a sophisticated tech-enabled platform for textile SMEs and empower them with market linkages from across the world. By providing operational excellence to our customers, we aim to streamline the currently broken textile supply chain.
Our team is excited to have the confidence of our investors as we work towards our mission of revolutionizing the supply chain in the textile industry.”
Commenting on the investment, Rahul Chowdhri, Partner, Stellaris Venture Partners said “Most garmenters currently procure fabric from traders or small mills and are often short-changed on quality and delivery promise leading to loss of business. Locofast aggregates only high-quality mills on its platform and does quality checks before dispatching the order. They use technology to help buyers discover the best prices and give them visibility in the various legs of the supply chain. They help partners with earning via guaranteed business opportunities. Locofast’s value proposition of better prices with good quality and reliable service has resonated well with its customer base. The founders, Deepak Wadhwa and Mohit Piplani possess a great deal of expertise building marketplaces. These factors have helped them scale rapidly and we are confident they will continue in their growth trajectory”
Ranjith Menon – Partner and Executive Director at Chiratae Ventures said ‘’The Indian textile sector is one of the oldest industries in the country contributing about 2% of GDP and employing over 45M people. It is a space that is ripe for digital transformation. Our excitement is that Locofast is attempting to bring more technology to this traditional space creating value to all stakeholders across the value chain’’
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