GET, SET, PIVOT

How Covid-19 has forced a clutch of startups to move away from its core, or to add to it

- Rajiv Singh

“We are the most hyperlocal delivery business in the country with over 7,000 distribution points across 2,500 cities.”

SAHIL BARUA, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, DELHIVERY

DELHIVERY, A LOGISTICS STARTUP UNICORN BACKED BY SOFTBANK

Pre-covid-19: Into institutional deliveries; biggest e-commerce logistics player

Now: Adds hyperlocal delivery

SCALE OF OPERATIONS

Revenue: ₹1,642 crore in FY19; ₹2,760 crore in FY20 (unaudited numbers)

Tonnage delivered: 280K+ in FY19; 1,300K+ in FY20

Headcount: 23,500+ in FY19; 30,000+ in FY20

March 3, onboard the Tejas Express

The train from Ahmedabad to Mumbai was cruising at a top speed of 130 km per hour. The passengers had finished dinner and were about to doze off, except for Sahil Barua. Food and sleep were last on the mind of the co-founder of India’s biggest e-commerce logistics player. Rattling him, even at 10 pm, was a simple question: Should Delhivery shut down its corporate offices on March 4?

Covid-19 cases was wreaking havoc in China, where Delhivery had one of its overseas offices. But in India, with cases still in low double digits, the situation was not alarming. Barua, though, didn’t want to take a chance. From the train, he went on a conference call with 20 people from his core team. The call ended at midnight. Delhivery decided to close all its corporate offices.