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The call for digitalization has certainly upped the startup ecosystem and has made the companies reach out to their target customers with products and services online. Along with the startups and the established brands and businesses, the growing digitalization has also been constantly empowering the entrepreneurs and other individuals to advertise and broadcast themselves online via diverse social media apps. Here, it's true that reaching the masses virtually or via the online route has become easy but delivering them at their doorsteps and within a specific deadline has constantly been challenging.
However, with the emergence of hyperlocal delivery apps and companies like Shadowfax, the world is truly turning into an easily navigable place with satisfied customers.
Shadowfax - Company Highlights
- Startup Name-Shadowfax
- Headquarters-Bengaluru, India
- Industry-Courier , Logistics
- Founded-2015
- Founders-Abhishek Bansal, Vaibhav Khandelwal, Gaurav Jaithliya and Praharsh Chandra
- CEO-Abhishek Bansal
- Products-Delivery, express mail, third-party logistics, Supply Chain
- Funding-$131.7 mn (July 2022)
- Revenue-$62.04 mn (Rs 464 crore in FY21)
- Area Served-India
- Website-shadowfax.in
Shadowfax - About and How it Works?
Shadowfax is a provider of an on-demand hyperlocal delivery platform that intends to help merchants to focus on their core business by outsourcing last-mile delivery services. The company manages to do so efficiently by an in-depth analysis of the delivery data, order tracking, and accessing the consumer insights. Shadowfax Technologies serves the customers in India. The Shadowfax tracking can be done simply by visiting tracker.shadowfax.in, and then entering the AWB number to track the order effortlesslyof.
The company's platform offers tech-enabled one-stop delivery services for E-commerce, restaurants, FMCG, pharmacy companies, and online and offline retailers along with empowering the businesses with cutting-edge technology in terms of logistics and access to a reliable delivery network, to make fast and efficient delivery possible.
Within a short period, Shadowfax has become one of India’s largest last-mile delivery platforms with more than 50,000 delivery partners network. The last mile logistics network that Shadowfax offers is tech-enabled and emerges as a one-stop delivery solution. The unique app of Shadowfax helps effortless delivery of food, grocery, pharmacy, and e-commerce products for businesses and individuals, thereby delighting the customers for real.
With its feature-rich technology and an unmatched network, Shadowfax benefits the brands as well as the riders, making swifter deliveries possible.
Advantages for the Brands:
- Shadowfax makes customized deliveries possible
- With an in-demand rider network, Shadowfax promises to meet the fluctuating business requirements
- Home delivery of products across multiple categories
Shadowfax extends flexibility of rides
With a single app that the riders need to handle, they can make the most of a day
Shadowfax boasts of faster payouts and unlimited opportunities to earn for the riders
All can use the Shadowfax app after an easy Shadowfax login process that they need to do, which can be done once they have created their own Shadowfax accounts.
Shadowfax has numerous big companies as its clients, which include Domino's, Big Basket, Amazon, PayTM, Flipkart, Myntra, McDonald’s, 1MG, and many other smaller restaurants, merchants, and retailers. The company currently boasts of having over 100 brand partners. The Shadowfax office is in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Shadowfax - Founders and Team
Shadowfax was initially founded by IIT-Delhi alumni Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal in April 2015, after which they were joined by two more IIT Delhi alumni - Gaurav Jaithliya, and Praharsh Chandra.
Founders of Shadowfax
Founders of Shadowfax, Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal
Abhishek Bansal
Abhishek Bansal graduated from IIT Delhi with a BTech in Production and Industrial Engineering. After working for Hay Group for 2 years as a Business Anlyst and an Associate Consultant, Bansal co-founded Shadowfax, where he still serves as the Co-founder and CEO.
Vaibhav Khandelwal
Vaibhav Khandelwal was also a student of IIT Delhi, from where he completed his Btech in Electrical, and Electronics & Communication Engineering. Starting as a Research Intern at Adobe, Khandelwal served as a System Two Advisors, LP at Research Analyst. However, he left the job within a year of joining and eventually decided to co-found Shadowfax with Bansal. Vaibhav is currently serving as the Co-founder and CTO of Shadowfax.
Gaurav Jaithliya and Praharsh Chandra, Co-founders of Shadowfax
Gaurav Jaithliya
Gaurav Jaithliya was also a student of IIT Delhi, from where he completed his Dual Degree in Mathematics and Computing. GulfTalent was the first company that Gaurav joined, after which he joined Shadowfax as a Co-founder and the Chief of Business Strategy and he is still serving the role.
Praharsh Chandra
Praharsh Chandra was a Mechanical Engineering student, who completed his Btech degree from the IIT Delhi, much like the other co-foudners and then interned at HUL. After interning for around 3 months, Chandra joined A.T. Kearney. He worked with the company for around 2 years as a Business Analyst and a Senior Business Analyst, eventually leaving it and co-founding ShadowFax. Praharsh Chandra is now a Co-founder and the Chief of Operations at Shadowfax Technologies.
Shadowfax claims to be working with over 5000 employees.
Shadowfax - Startup Story
Shadowfax was initially conceptualized as a food delivery player, but later it was diversified to cater to other verticals including grocery, lifestyle, electronics, pharmacy, furniture, and other express mail deliveries to become the company that we now have.
Shadowfax - Mission and Vision
Shadowfax's mission is to build a fast and reliable logistics network whilst empowering a million micro-entrepreneurs through technology is the driving force behind all that we do!
The vision of Shadowfax is to "enable commerce by empowering lives for everyone, everywhere."
Shadowfax - Name and Tagline
The name Shadowfax has been inspired from the mythical creature of "Lord of the Rings", where the chief of Mearas, the horse that Gandalf the Grey rode, was termed as Shadowfax. The horse was popular for speed, which was often described as "faster than the wind" or "like an arrow".
Shadowfax is named after the "Lord of all horses", "who is an epitome of monumental speed and communication, much like our reliable & agile logistic offerings", says the website of Shadowfax.
Shadowfax tagline is "Speedy, secure and convenient deliveries!"
Shadowfax - Logo and its Meaning
Shadowfax's company logo has a paper airplane that implies fast delivery service that Shadowfax offers. The company is a provider of an on-demand hyperlocal delivery platform intended to help merchants to focus on their core business by outsourcing last-mile delivery services.
Shadowfax - Business Model and Revenue Model
Shadowfax operates an unusually built business-to-business logistics network in more than 700 cities in India, as of now. The startup works with neighborhood stores to use their real estate to store inventory and a large network of freelancers for the delivery.
Currently, e-commerce contributes the most to Shadow fax's business with a 30% share. Food and groceries are next with 25% shares, while reverse logistics account for 20% of them. Shadowfax also has a courier tracking system, which provides an online automatic tracking system to track shipments. Customers can track the current status of the parcel instead of visiting the courier location or calling the customer service center.
Shadowfax - Revenue and Growth
“We aim to grow 10x in the next four years and take the company public. The growth has been fantastic in the last two years. We also plan to invest in backward integration and build automated warehouses, taking the six warehouses we have now to 10. It will also enable us to innovate with the largest online platform in India and build core capabilities that can be democratized for the larger logistics ecosystem," - Abhishek Bansal, CEO, Shadowfax.
Shadowfax Technologies Private Limited's operating revenues range was INR 100 cr - 500 cr for the financial year ending on 31 March 2019. Its EBITDA decreased then by -96.32% over the previous year, and at the same time, its book net worth increased by 60.17%.
As per the latest filings accessed in February 2, 2022, Shadowfax's operating revenues increased by 43.7% to be Rs 464 crore in FY21, which was Rs 323 crore in FY20. The company's revenue grew by 93% during FY20. The EBITDA of the company, which was measured at -24.33% in FY20, became -25.09% in FY21. Besides, the annual losses of Shadowfax also grew during FY21 by 53.5% to become Rs 132.87 crore from Rs 86.56 crore in FY20.
Shadowfax - Awards and Recognitions
Ever since Shadowfax came into being, the company has grabbed awards and recognitions every now and then. Here is a list of the prominent awards and recognitions garnered by Shadowfax:
The company was awarded the Silver award for Outstanding Performance in the COVID Focussed Community Support at the 4th CSR Health Impact Awards, 2020 COVID Edition
- Shadowfax was declared the winner in the category of Innovation in Transport Tech at the 10th Aegis Graham Bell Awards, 2020
- The company was recognized as the winner of Excellence in Innovation by ET at its Now Stars of the Industry Awards, 2019
- Shadowfax was also conferred upon the title of winners of Disruptive Startup logistics of the Year at the 9th Inflection Conference & Awards, 2019
- Amazon awarded Shadowfax, at the Excellence Super Star Award in 2019, as the winner of Best Emerging Service Partner
- Shadowfax also boasts of being the winner in Providing last-mile delivery services at the Flipkart Last Mile Agency Award of 2019
- Shadowfax was also recognised at the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards, 2019, as the winner of Dream Chasers for Driving Positive Change
- The company was also a part of Forbes 30 under 30, listed by Forbes in 2019
Shadowfax - Competitors
The top competitors in ShadowFax's competitive set are:
- Delhivery
- Ecom Express
- Ekart
- DHL
- Rivigo
- FedEx
- Xpressbees
Shadowfax - Challenges Faced
From a growth driven strategy, Bansal shares, we had to take a sustainable approach to our business. The biggest challenge was to create a very high ground efficiency. -Abhishek Bansal
Initial operational challenges demanded the young company to quickly work out an innovative approach. Abhishek Bansal said that they discovered that the trick to a successful business was to operate in different categories, each having a different peak time. This way the same delivery boy can be used for multiple categories, which in turn would increase the efficiency.
In January 2016, the company was at a minus 35% margin, and by the end of the year,, it stood at 4% margin. In 2017, the company grew threefold.
According to Bansal, every platform operating in the same-day delivery domain is using Shadowfax, and there is not even a single company that was not working with Shadowfax understanding what is the most sustainable business and defining a product-market fit has helped Shadowfax achieve great entrepreneurial milestones in a short span of time.
Until and unless you’re making money per transaction on a unit level you don’t really know whether you have built the right product or not. Once you get that right, it just remains a matter of scaling in order to be successful. - Abhishek Bansal
Shadowfax - Future Plans
Shadowfax is currently looking forward to doubling the current orders and reaching the customers at every possible corners of the country in the next 5 years. Going by the growth that the Indian market is capable of seeing, Shadowfax is looking to grow 10X in the next 5 years. Besides, the company is also focusing on decreasing the commute time and congestion and contributing towards a greener planet.
FAQs
What is Shadowfax Technologies Ltd.?
Shadowfax is an Indian company that offers on-demand hyperlocal delivery with delivery analytics by analyzing delivery data, order tracking, as well as access to consumer insights.
Who is the CEO of Shadowfax?
Abhishek Bansal is the current CEO of Shadowfax.
Who founded Shadowfax?
Shadowfax was founded by Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal, and was joined in by Gaurav Jaithliya and Praharsh Chandra, in 2015.
When was Shadowfax founded?
Shadowfax was founded in 2015, by initially by Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal, while Gaurav Jaithliya and Praharsh Chandra joined the list of the company's co-founders in December 2020.
How does Shadowfax make money?
Currently, e-commerce contributes the most to Shadowfax's business with a 30% share. Food and groceries are next with 25% while reverse logistics account for 20%.
What is Shadowfax courier tracking and how is Shadowfax tracking done?
Shadowfax allows all the users to track their couriers during the time they are with Shadowfax with the help of its intelligent Shadowfax courier tracking facility. To use Shadowfax tracking, you simply need to visit tracker.shadowfax.in, and then enter your AWB Number and click/tap on Track Order to track your order.
Where is the Shadowfax office?
The Shadowfax office is in Bengaluru, India.
How to proceed with Shadowfax login?
The Shadowfax login is an easy process in which you simply need to visit the Shadowfax website in order to log in. However, it is important to note that you should be having your Shadowfax account first, in order to begin with it.
