India-based e-commerce company Snapdeal has invested Rs 1.2bn ($19.1m) in India-based logistics company GoJavas in return for a 20% stake, Live Mint reported today.
Despite reports earlier this week that Snapdeal was looking to buy GoJavas for Rs 2bn, it has denied it has any plans to fully acquire GoJavas in the future.
The deal is part of Snapdeal’s strategy to establish a long-term partner for last-mile delivery, and comes amid news that it expects to invest around $200m in its logistics and supply chain over the next year.
GoJavas currently delivers products to approximately 30,000 customers per day acrosss 85 cities and counts e-commerce companies Flipkart, Amazon and Myntra among its clients. It was spun out of another e-commerce company, Jabong, in 2013.
Rohit Bansal, co-founder of Snapdeal, said: “The size of the market has grown significantly and it is absolutely critical for us to ensure that the capacity gets built.
“The co-investment is to only ensure that this capacity is created for the future. It will not change anything for GoJavas and they will continue to run their operations the way they have been.”