Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank led a $100m funding round for Brazil-based delivery service provider Loggi yesterday through its Vision Fund.
Software provider Microsoft, investment firm Velt Partners and venture capital firms GGV Capital and Fifth Wall Ventures also participated in the round, which could yet be boosted by $50m from the $5bn Latin America Ventures fund SoftBank launched in March this year.
Loggi runs a last-mile delivery service, using artificial intelligence-equipped software to efficiently allocate packages and routes to a network of some 25,000 couriers on motorcycles and trucks.
CEO Fabian Mendez announced at the start of this year that the company aims to increase its delivery load from about 100,000 packages per day to 5 million within five years, after increasing its reach to 95% of Brazil, including all its cities, by the end of 2020.
The company plans to use the capital to scale its engineering team to more than 1,000 as it expands, a strategy will involve the construction of distribution hubs of different size across the country. Its clients include another SoftBank-backed delivery service, Colombia-based Rappi.
Vision Fund had previously invested $100m in Loggi in October 2018, as part of a round also backed by VC firm Kaszek Ventures and reportedly sized between $107m and $111m.
Qualcomm Ventures, mobile semiconductor producer Qualcomm’s corporate venturing unit, joined VC firm Monashees to invest $4.2m in the company in 2014. Both returned for a $14.3m round in mid-2017 that also featured investment firm Dragoneer Investment Group.
