Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, has acquired a 3 per cent stake in Xpressbees, an e-commerce logistics firm, for $40 million in a secondary share sale. The transaction valued Xpressbees at around $1.3-1.4 billion, with Elevation Capital, formerly Saif Partners, partially selling its shares to Khazanah, the Economic Times reported.
The India-focussed venture capital firm now owns a 2 per cent stake in Xpressbees, down from 13 per cent in 2015 when it was spun off from parent company FirstCry, an early investor in Paytm, Swiggy, and Meesho.
In 2021, Elevation sold about 10 per cent of its stake in FirstCry, which was founded 12 years ago. Elevation has removed around $120 million from its investment in Xpressbees over the past 12-18 months, with plans for another secondary transaction later this year.
Shares in Xpressbees were traded between new and existing investors, with the capital not going into the company.
Xpressbees has been expanding and taking market share from rivals, including publicly listed Delhivery and was reportedly clocking more daily shipments than the previous number two, Ecom Express, last year. The company works with e-commerce platforms including Flipkart, Amazon and Tata Cliq, as well as D2C (direct-to-consumer) brands and has introduced same-day and next-day delivery services to more than 50 warehouses across India.
In the fiscal year 2022 (FY22), the company reduced its losses to around Rs 27 crore ($3.6 million) from Rs 63 crore in FY21, with operating revenue of over Rs 1,900 crore. The company is expected to be delivering around 1.4-1.5 million shipments daily.
Khazanah's investment in Xpressbees follows recent secondary deals across large internet firms, such as eyewear retailer Lenskart's deal with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and FirstCry's ongoing talks with sovereign funds. Two of Flipkart's early backers, venture fund Accel Partners and New York-based Tiger Global, are also reportedly in talks to sell their remaining stake in the e-commerce company to parent Walmart.
