COIMBATORE: Ebix Inc, a leading international supplier of on-demand software and e-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries, has announced that one of its India-based
EbixCash subsidiaries has acquired a 67% stake in
Routier, a Delhi-based
B2B marketplace for trucking logistics, for an undisclosed sum.
Routier works on a cloud-based technology to change the way people move and receive inland goods in the country.
Founded by first generation entrepreneurs and operating team senior executives Ankur Dahiya and Adwait Vikram Singh from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and Harvard Law School, respectively, Routier seeks to revolutionise trucking logistics in the same way taxi logistics have been transformed by Uber, Ola and others.
Routier aims at driving efficiency for all marketplace stakeholders, using a blend of data analytics, artificial intelligence and end-to-end streamlined functionality available over the cloud.
“With clients like Coca Cola, Asian Paints, and Samsung. Routier’s marketplace is already proving its ability to add efficiency to freight movement,” EbixCash said.
“The EbixCash investment was driven by Routier’s desire for a strategic investor who could provide added technology expertise, financial strength and brand recognition to accelerate its penetration of major trucking logistics,” the company said.
Routier is the first startup where Ebix has made a strategic investment.
Routier’s online cloud-based logistics marketplace connects companies that require their goods to be delivered (shippers), typically with small trucking companies who account for 75% of the freight transportation business (carriers).
It allows the carriers the ability to win a shipper’s business by bidding from any smartphone, hand-held device or computer. From bidding through final delivery, the Routier platform delivers a seamless, end-to-end online
B2B logistics marketplace that connects shippers and carriers across the nation on a single platform.
“Exchanges and marketplaces are meant to provide a network effect that drives efficiency for all concerned and are best targeted at industries that are highly inefficient and lack technology,” said Robin Raina, chairman, president and CEO, Ebix.
“India’s trucking industry is a perfect example of such an opportunity to deliver tremendous value and efficiency, and thus we are quite excited to be partnering with Routier in its mission to redefine the trucking logistics industry,” he said.