Dhruvil SanghviCo-Founder & CEO of LogiNext Solutions Published On: Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Views 6462

LogiNext brings “real-time” factor to the way of doing logistics. Traditionally, all the planning and optimization is done using static and stale information. LogiNext is disrupting the “reactive” aspect of logistics to a more “pro-active, predictive and preventive” way. “We don’t only draw beautiful pie charts and graphs and call it an “analytics dashboard. We crunch location and time data in real-time to suggest and predict actions.”

Some of LogiNext’s offerings are:

• Location Clustering
• Route Optimization
• Automated Delivery Scheduling
• Real Time ETA Prediction
• Real Time Delay Prediction, Alerts and Trend Analysis

LogiNext is currently the only real-time logistics analytics company in India with more than 95% accuracy of delay, route and time prediction across different legs and models of logistics. LogiNext’s proprietary technology is powering more than 50,000 shipments and goods movement on a daily basis across e-commerce, on-demand, hyperlocal, last mile and multi-nodal transportation segments. Our newly launched tech platform “Sprintr” is doing more than 2000 deliveries per day in a completely automated way with a team of 6 people across 3 cities. Our operations team works with zero manual follow ups and 100% real-time data-based delivery planning.”

In the US, millions of dollars are spent each year on optimization despite their infrastructure being so much robust, more advanced and better than most emerging markets. But they’re still always looking for ways to optimize (logistics). However, in India, even the big players aren’t yet invested in technology in the same way, and this creates a potentially huge untapped market for logistic tech players.

In Late 2013, while Manisha (Co-Founder & CTO, LogiNext) & I were sitting at a Starbucks in Manhattan and we were pondering on the reasons why logistics in emerging markets is so complex and unorganized. We narrowed down to lack of visibility in the delivery networks as one of the key reasons why the logistics services are so unreliable.

2013 was also witnessing a huge surge in e-commerce, hyperlocal commerce and Uber kind of services where a lot of startups and even large companies were jumping in but most of them were spending a lot on logistics and still a victim of uncertainties and frequent delays. And since we both are techies by heart, we saw the solution in ‘Internet of Things’ and big data to optimize delivery networks, internal operations and other logistics services. This is how LogiNext was born.

Like any other Startup, when we started we faced the challenge of gaining credibility. We were questioned by the biggies if we can deliver what we are promising or not. So to gain credibility, we undertook a statistical evidence based approach while pitching to logistics companies.

Even before we approached the client, we deployed our smart tags and analytical systems undercover on potential client’s delivery networks so that we had enough evidence, reports and analysis to present the inefficiencies and bottlenecks in their operations. When we showcased our findings while pitching, the logistic companies were awe struck by the real insights in their own network from day 0 and it helped them to gauge the value of the product. This enabled us to get our first few clients very quickly.

LogiNext raised seed round of funding of USD 500,000 from Indian Angel Network led by Sanjay Mehta and Ajit Surana in April 2015. We later received series A round funding of around 10 Million USD from Alibaba backed PayTM in September 2015.

It’s very important to have people who believe in the company’s vision and growth. LogiNext is one of the few – perhaps the only – tech startup with has a perfect 50:50 male–female ratio. To achieve this gender equality must be imbibed in the culture of the company, not just in its policies. We have a young and energetic team with 27 being the average age. We have a flexible culture but really very aggressive when it comes to deliverables. ‘Get things done’ attitude is preferred. We have very strong engagements with Co-Founders of other fast growing startups like Paytm, Shopsense, Tiny Owl and many more, who have more often shared their experiences with our team members at various office events. All this helps in inculcating our vision into the team’s DNA.

• Believe in your work and importantly yourself
• Hard work has no alternative
• Be Persistent

We use Amazon Web Service for Business. But personally, I like Make my trip app and also love using Zoho Product. I used to like Zip Car app when I was in States.

I am very particular about being an organized human being. From my emails to my desk and my life, everything is highly organized.

I am trying to get fit and do workout daily. But with the schedule I have, it gets impossible to exercise daily.

• One tip to success:

Success comes when you believe in yourself. Your dedication, hard work and persistence to make things happen leads you to several accomplishments in life. It’s all about, “in a nutshell, just hang in there”.

• One mistake you believe every individual must avoid:

People are not ready to take risks in life, they want to be calculative and play safe. I feel this is the mistake which should be avoided by each and every individual.

• One most important lesson that you have learnt till now:

Today everybody wants to live in their own world with limited knowledge and information. Getting out of one’s comfort zone whether socially or professionally and trying to broaden one’s horizon and achieving great heights in life is what people should yearn for.

We have grown by 12X in last 12 months in terms of revenue, number of clients and the team size to become the fastest growing startup in core technology product space in India. Our current team size is around 120 with a good mix of product and business guys from diverse backgrounds. We typically hire people with previous startup experience (especially early-age startup experience) and we tend to stay away from people who have changed their jobs frequently in the past.

In the next 3 years, we intend to become the one stop solution for all legs of logistics- be it First Mile, Line Haul or Last Mile. The plan is to stay lean, leverage our first mover advantage and big data capabilities and continue to provide data driven solutions to move towards our aim of organized logistics.

This is the tricky one but for now I am happy with the way things are going and would want to stick to it, as even mistakes are a part of our learning.

I am in love with Alaska and the Hawaiian land. Speaking of India, nothing is as serene as the mighty Himalayas.

One of my most favourite quote is “All in is the only way to go” by Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm. This one has inspired me a lot.