Blackbuck – the B2B Logistics Company of India!

We all enjoy online shopping once in a while. But, have you wondered why it takes a couple of days for you to receive an order. Because, it takes time to pack, ship, and transport your product orders from one point to the other. From carrying essential supplies or raw materials to collecting final goods to supplying & delivering goods, logistics has played a crucial role in the growth & development of the Indian economy.

Since Thousands & Lakhs of trucks & Lorries run daily to make the supply chain useful & productive, there are B2-B start-ups that manage all these as part of their business to ensure timely & effective supply of goods from one point to the other. BlackBuck is one such company that organizes trucks from several parts of India.

Almost every business needs logistics for the smooth running of its business operations. Thus, by fulfilling the herculean task of managing physical trucking operations by taking them online, Blackbuck has made a significant contribution by solving the problem of logistics and making the whole process of trucking simple, efficient & convenient for the drivers as well as for shippers.

Therefore, Blackbuck was founded in the year 2015 by its three co-founders namely, Rajesh Yabaji, Chanakya Hridaya, and Rama Subramaniam B under the name Zinka Logistics Solutions Private Limited, with its headquarters in Mumbai, India. Now, it is one of the leading trucking companies in India and can be rightfully called the Uber for Trucks.

Blackbuck-All About, Mission & Vision

The logistics industry in India is crucial and ever-growing. The trucking industry in India is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 8 percent in the coming years to reach USD 330 billion by 2025. There are more than 12 million trucks in India & the population of trucks is further expected to grow at a pace of 15% every year.

Being referred to as the Largest Trucking Platform in India, Blackbuck has redefined the trucking ecosystem in the country with its notable features such as transparent pricing, efficiency, trustworthiness, and providing shippers & truckers with quick and easy availability with technology at its core.

Blackbuck envisions targeting the inefficiencies in the supply chain & logistics sector by leveraging advanced technologies to effectively manage trucking operations and make them cost-effective. Through its platform, it facilitates inter-city freight movement by matching shippers with buyers by employing machine learning techniques that help fleet drivers to predict safer routes and generate the price of a transaction through data science techniques. They plan to use data science to predict the number of routes a trucker takes and allocate new orders before they reach their destination, eliminating downtime and ensuring “negative time” operations.

Furthermore, Blackbuck also aims to raise product demands and service levels that would translate into more business for truckers and lowered costs for shippers ultimately leading to an effective price setting for both these players in the market.

To enhance its business operations for more than 7 Lakh registered truckers in their platform, Blackbuck facilitates services such as insurances for added security from its fin-tech partners and increased daily returns from operations and is also planning to offer financing facilities to truckers by venturing into fintech industry.

Blackbuck- How does it work?

Currently, with more than 15000+ clients, 12lakh+ trucks, and a presence at more than 2000+ locations, Blackbuck uses its two platforms namely- fleet management & freight operations, which help the drivers and shippers to access the platform, and match each other’s requirements and book load services at a fixed quantity at all sizes at right time & place with just a click of a button. With 30,000+ downloads each month, Blackbuck mobile app is extremely popular among its users.

Blackbuck works in a model similar to a Uber-like Full Truck Load (FTL) Platform which connects shippers with truckers in a smooth seamless user interface. The online platform restructures transactions through its intelligent auction engines and smartphones.

BlackBuck offers its large and robust trucking network platforms that deliver services with reliability, efficiency, and seamless experience for shippers and truckers, namely-

1. Freight Platform – Enables convenient shipping and the right utilization of trucks with organized freight matching.
2. Fleet Management Platform- Making the whole process of trucking simple and efficient with a host of trucking services and related infrastructure.

For ensuring the facilitation of services to its clients & customers, Blackbuck employs technologies such as Amazon EC2, Amazon Route 53, Modernizr, SigView, Ozonetel, Bootstrap, PHP, Nginx, HTML5, Google Analytics, and jQuery, etc.

Blackbuck- Story of Inception

Around six-seven years ago, Rakesh Yabaji was managing the supply chain division of ITCs leaf tobacco business, where he got the opportunity to closely observe the problem of mismanagement of trucking operations. Operational inefficiency had plagued the transportation industry, but this medium-framed man with a muscular build opted for brawn. In an interview with Forbes, the CEO & Co-founder Yabaji stated “he decided to establish BlackBuck with an aim to solve “the problem of corporate big boys such as Coca-Cola, HUL, and PepsiCo”.

Since its launch, the business was instantly a hit and giving a gross margin of 15 percent in the first few months helping the business to earn a lot of money per transaction. Within a week of starting, BlackBuck managed to successfully raise around $5 million in a seed round in April. In the next four months, this trucking start-up had started flexing its muscles & by August, with operating revenue of around Rs 3 crore and the cost hovered around Rs 30 to 33 lakh, the business was officially an Ebitda (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) breakeven company. This impressive performance also helped the business to grab more investor interest; BlackBuck got over half a dozen term sheets, and valuation climbed at a crazy pace. Blackbuck has been also known as Ola and Uber for trucks.

In July 2021, after raising a sum of $67 million as a part of its Series E funding round at a valuation of $1.02 billion, making it the newest entrant to India’s growing list of unicorn Startups 2021.

BlackBuck – Founders and Team

i. Rajesh Yabaji

Rajesh Yabaji, is serving as the Co-founder & CEO of Blackbuck, he pursued his graduation from IIT, Kharagpur from where he obtained his dual degree and started his career as a summer intern for 3 months at Schindler India Pvt Ltd. and for the University of Nebraska Lincoln, USA, and Rio Tinto Alcan. Later he joined ITC Ltd, as a Category Development Manager commonly known as the Business Manager in ITC Limited for 4 years and 10 months (June 2010 – June 2014).

Rajesh decided to take on the problem of logistics and supply and find a solution to integrate this scattered and neglected division by leveraging technology. Using the learnings from ITC, Rajesh decided to create a platform to help corporates and SMBs around the country solve the problems faced by them in this unorganized sector, in turn also helping to bring order into this chaotic industry currently residing in Bangalore, India.

ii. Chanakya Hridaya

Chanakya Hridaya, co-founder & Business Operations and Planning Head in Blackbuck, has completed his graduation & post-graduation from the IIT Kharagpur and started his career as an intern in ITC and a visiting researcher at the University of Strathclyde, before working as the Assistant Manager of Supply Chain at ITC, and later co-founded blackbuck. For his crucial contribution to the business, he was featured in ‘Forbes India 30 under 30’ in 2017. Currently, he is leading the strategic roadmap for the SME Business at BlackBuck

iii. Ramasubramaniam B

Ramasubramaniam B is another founder & Product Manager at Blackbuck, and has almost 17 years of experience in the supply chain industry and guides the team to establish and develop various business lines. After completing his education at IILM, he worked as a Director & Managing Director at Miebach for a brief period, before finally co-founding Blackbuck.

Blackbuck –Business & Revenue Model

BlackBuck, the unicorn trucking platform primarily works in a B2B model and charges a fixed rate of commission (around 15-20%) for their contract business. For the demand-based model, they charge commissions from both sides including the customers and truck owners a commission totally depending on the freight value. For enhancing & improving the value of their business operations, Blackbuck has it all. The co-founders had their degrees in engineering and supply chain experiences and realized the importance of technology could be a larger play in managing trucking operations. The company is redefining the logistics landscape thus making it reliable and efficient.

Bengaluru-headquartered logistics startup Blackbuck’s revenue grew by 27% year-on-year (YoY), from INR 1803 Cr in the fiscal year 2018-19 (FY19) to INR 2281 Cr in FY20. However, again the revenues that were affected by Covid resulted from a 60% decline in the amount reaching Rs 866.73 crores, in FY21. With clients like Reliance Industries, Amul, Tata Steel, etc. while things are expected to come back to normalcy soon, it is obvious that Blackbuck is going to stay longer than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic truly proved to be a bane for BlackBuck, eating 60% of its operating revenue in FY21, however, with the country back in the post-pandemic normalcy, BlackBuck is looking for some growth in the next fiscal for sure.

Blackbuck- Revenues & Expenses

Blackbuck Expenses Breakdown

Interestingly, with around 60% of the downfall in the business revenues, the expenses for the fiscal year also dropped from Rs 2741.7 cr in FY20 to Rs 1134.6 cr in FY21. Around 70% of business expenses are attributed to the business transport services which the start-up extends to its customers. Next, in the line are employee benefit expenses which were reduced by 31.4% of the business including the lay-off of 200 employees by the start-up due to business slowdown in COVID circumstances.

Blackbuck Revenue Verticals Breakdown-

In the year 2021, the net annual losses of Blackbuck were reduced by 46.6 YoY. In other words, Blackbuck had to spend 1.31 to earn a single rupee of revenue.

Blackbuck-Funding & Acquisitions

With its innovative business model & scalability of the business, Blackbuck has been able to get the attention of multiple investors around the globe. Being a pioneer in the trucking industry has enabled it to get multiple funding rounds resulting in it becoming one of the largest players in the segment. To date, Blackbuck has raised a sum of $364M over nine rounds and the last tranche of investment came on July 22, 2021, in a Series E round.

Blackbuck is invested by a total of seventeen investors out of which, there are five lead investors namely- Accel, Goldman Sachs, Sequoia Capital India, InnoVen Capital, and Sands Capital Ventures. Sands Capital Ventures and VEF are the most recent investors.

Here is a timeline of all funding rounds-

Blackbuck- Growth & Revenues

BlackBuck is committed to offering its humble services to its customers, with its fleet of 12lakh+ trucks, 7 lakh+ fleet owners, and more than 15000 clients.

Blackbuck enabled technologies that helped these fleet owners to reduce their idle time by 45% and hence a 20-30% increase in their total earnings. Currently, Blackbuck is one of the largest trucking businesses and entered the unicorn club after raising $67mn in a Series E funding round. claims to command a 90% plus market share in online trucking. Its client list includes SMEs, and large corporates like HUL, Reliance, Coca Cola, Asian Paints, Tata, Vedanta and L&T

To provide a sense of security to fleet owners & truckers, Blackbuck was quick to partner with other insurance provider start-up unicorn Acko Insurance, who was then just venturing into the vehicle insurance segment and was looking for opportunities to expand its product portfolio to include goods carrying vehicles.

Blackbuck offers Acko access to its massive portfolio of over 700,000 trucks and world-class technology that helps Acko underwrite claims remotely, helping in near-instant cash-free disbursals and reduced fraud. It also helps the companies & their drivers with facilities such as ensuring accurate claim processing, minimal downtime for truckers, and a reduced load of business, all the while removing manual processes that disfigure traditional insurance claim processes.

Furthermore, the wide network of authorized garages for vehicles ensures they reach accident sites swiftly and eliminate the need for spot surveys, which is expected to add an immense positive social impact on the sector and add value to fleet owners and drivers. With a shared vision and affection for technology, both the start-up unicorns will likely offer a complete process of insurance that will expedite claim settlement using GPS data and build an even more efficient ecosystem.

Blackbuck’s journey at a glance

2015- Blackbuck launched its business operations by listing 10,000 platforms after getting an initial seed funding in round A. Also, launched an app for supply partners.

2016-  The total number of listed trucks on the platform increased to more than 50,000. Launched other apps for shippers.

2017-Blackbuck extended its business presence to 1000+ locations with multiple rounds of funding and initiated a service platform for fleet owners.

2018-Number of listed trucks on the platform crossed 2Lakh+ and the number of listed shippers increased to 10,000+ and the number of employees reached 1000+. Launch of commercial vehicle insurance policies in association with Acko General Insurance Company. Launched app for truck drivers. ‘Start-up of the Year Award “by CNBC.

2019-Number of trucks reaches 2.5 Lakh+, successful in receiving funding worth $290 million, client list gets longer with names such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Tata as key clients and reached near-unicorn valuation.

2020- Number of trucks exceeds 700,000, $300 million in funding, and more than 15000 clients. Creates a record revenue of Rs. 2215.36 crores in the FY20.

Blackbuck-Key Business Competitors

Though Black-buck is regarded as the pioneer of trucking operations in India, in the mean, while a lot of similar businesses have come into the picture, such as-

1. Xpressbees
2. Rivigo
3. Delhivery
4. ElasticRun
5. Blowhorn

Blackbuck- Awards& Recognitions

• BlackBuck has won ‘CNBC-TV18 – Young Turks Startup of the Year Award
• Won ‘Zee Business- Company of the year logistics award (2018).
• Subject to ‘Harvard Business School’ case study.

Blackbuck– Plans for Future

Therefore, Blackbuck started its journey as a solution provider for all woes related to trucking operations in a simple, intuitive, and extremely efficient manner through the creation of an asset-light ecosystem-based approach for long-haul full truckload models (FTL).

Trucking operations involved clients & customers who needed to book an entire truckload for intercity shipments, however out of the education & prior experiences of its co-founders, Black-buck could manage it all. It has reshaped the logistics landscape of India, making it more reliable and efficient. With the use of cutting-edge technology, simple processes, and innovative partners like Acko Insurance, it intends to create a large ecosystem of truckers and suppliers. With already becoming a unicorn start-up and no signs of stopping, Blackbuck is arguably one of the largest players in the trucking industry and is here to stay.

For its near future, Blackbuck aims to deploy funds to onboard new trucking partners, expand to new transportation corridors and invest heavily in product buying and data science capabilities. Blackbuck also plans to venture into the fintech industry and plans to offer financing facilities to truckers across the country through its online platform.

In the words of Rajesh Yabaji, Co-Founder & CEO of BlackBuck” Black-buck was launched with a dream of re-imagine trucking, to make it 10 times simpler & 10 times efficient”. It’s been six years and we are just starting to make a difference. Blackbuck is dedicated to solving the fundamental problems related to trucking and the new financing round gave us more power to invest in fundamentally challenging aspects as we continue to deepen our reach & impact.