Arzooo launches in-house logistics service Arzooo Express

Retail-tech startup Arzooo said it had launched an in-house logistics service that would manage the first-mile service to last-mile delivery of goods for its partner stores across the country

Retail-tech startup Arzooo on Wednesday said it has launched an in-house logistics service that will manage the first-mile service to last-mile delivery of goods for its partner stores across the country.

The in-house logistics service, Arzooo Express, has been launched with an investment of USD 2 million.

This investment follows USD 6 million funding by Arzooo from Trifecta Capital recently.

"Arzooo Express, besides having a fleet of vehicles plying around cities, has an end-to-end technology platform to manage Arzooo's supply chain on a real-time basis," a company statement said.

In the first phase, Arzooo Express will serve 10,000 pin codes across the country with a fleet of trucks. By 2021-end, it hopes to double its logistics service capability to serving 20,000 plus pin codes across India with a 3 times larger fleet on the ground and advanced supply chain technology.

The new service is expected to help Arzooo improve serviceability, speed of delivery, expand its pay on delivery option to a larger network along with efficiency in its supply chain operations.

At present, the logistics service will serve Arzooo's own client base.

However, the company may look to extend Arzooo Express platform as a third-party service provider in near future, it said.

"We aim to deliver a level of service for our retailers that is 2X faster in speed and reliable when it comes to the turnaround time, but with a fragmented network of logistics ecosystem with limited capabilities to handle large appliances it is hard to achieve the speed and quality of service.

"Arzooo Express equips us with the best supply chain capability built to handle large products, deliver faster service to our customers with an optimum level of operational efficiency that sets us to achieve the larger business objective to serve 50,000 stores by the end of this year," Arzooo co-founder and CEO Khushnud Khan said.

Citing estimates, the company said India has a universe of about 12 million retail outlets where the logistics service is the spine for running the business, enabling movement of goods.

So far, Arzooo has raisedabout USD 15 million of capital.

This includes a Series A round of USD 7.5 million funding led by WRVI Capital along with its existing investors in October 2020, followed by the investment from ZOOM video founder Eric Yuan. And in February this year, it secured USD 6 million from Trifecta Capital.