Logistics start-up Daakiyaa to raise $10 million

Last-mile marketing and logistics start-up, Daakiyaa, which brings doorstep brand experience to customers of e-commerce and brick-and-mortar firms is looking to raise its first round of funding of $10 million in the next 30 days.

The company, founded by Rohit Singh, an FMCG marketing veteran, in August 2014, has spent ₹1.5 crore since its inception and has a list of 28 clients including Urban Ladder, Ferns n Petals, Caratlane, UB Group, Paytm, Pepperfry, Bluestone, Fashionara, Zivame, Biba, Amrapali, to name a few.

Daakiya executes three- to 24-hour, intra-city deliveries for its clients covering 1,800 pin codes and 22 cities across the country. The funding will help it scale up operations to cover 10,000 pin codes covering Tier 2 and 3 towns across the country.

“I decided to start a company that would not only fulfil on-time deliveries to their customers; but, to also provide a differentiated brand experience to customer doorsteps at the time of delivery. And we are the first to offer such a premium service,” said Singh, who says by doing so, e-commerce firms can ensure the reach and speed of deliveries as well as ensure customer acquisition and retention.

“One of our clients, Caratlane.com, delivers a bouquet of flowers to anyone who orders a solitaire on its site. We send our well dressed, brand envoys who are women, wearing a Daakiyaa branded dress to deliver it to the customers who are thrilled to receive such a personalised service,” said Singh.

Similarly for Ferns n Petals’ ‘order a song at your doorstep’ service, Daakiyaa sends a musician to customers who have ordered the service, to sing a song of the customer’s choice on their birthday, anniversary or Valentine’s Day.

dDelivery constitutes 11-13 per cent of the cost incurred by e-commerce firms, Singh said Daakiyaa service has resulted in 30 per cent of customers buying other products from the same e-commerce firm because of the delivery experience.

“Although we charge a premium for our service, we deliver and help in customer acquisition and retention at an 18 per cent cost, which would otherwise cost 40 per cent for e-commerce firms,” he said. They also offer no-frills, low cost, high-volume service at $1 per kg of delivery.

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