Digital logistics company Locad has raised $11 million in fresh equity to grow its network across the country and in the region as it takes advantage of the booming e-commerce industry.
The recently concluded Series A funding was led by Reefknot Investments, a firm backed by Temasek and logistics company Kuehne & Nagel. Other investors included Sequoia India, Southeast Asia’s Surge, Febe Ventures, Antler, Foxmont, Kaya Founders, Access Ventures and JG Digital Equity Ventures.
Locad CEO and co-founder Constantin Robertz, in a press briefing, said they were eyeing to penetrate more cities outside Metro Manila as part of expansion plans.
This meant putting up more warehouses across the country where clients could store inventories nearer to customers in order to cut delivery time, he explained.
“We started that in the Philippines by opening our presence in Cebu and Davao last year,” he said.
“[We are] opening more warehouses in second-tier cities across the country so that we allow brands to place some of their inventories into what we call forward-stock locations closer to customers,” he added.
Robertz said this strategy would also be replicated in markets outside the country as the company seeks to further cement its presence in Southeast Asia. A second fulfillment center was recently opened in Thailand.
Locad currently has 15 warehouses across the region, six of which are in the Philippines. The logistics service provider eyes to have 50 warehouses in the next five years.
A portion of the fresh capital will also go to product development to offer clients a platform that can be scaled as operations grow.
Locad offers cloud supply chain solutions that can consolidate inventory items in one platform as clients usually sell their products in different online shops and e-commerce channels. INQ