Hey Deedee raises $500,000 pre-seed funding from Metaform Ventures LLC and forays into four-wheeler warehouse to hub deliveries with women drivers
Mumbai, June 4, 2018… Last mile delivery is the next big opportunity to hit the Indian market with e-commerce growing exponentially. Deliveries are proving to be the game changers for the e-commerce companies which are totally dependent on the same. Currently, anything and everything ranging from groceries, furniture, medicines, homeware, apparels and food are being delivered across the length and breadth of the country including penetrating into tier 2 & 3 markets with inaccessible terrains. Efficiencies and speed of these deliveries will further expand the e-commerce market as it will bring in competitiveness and better customer experience. With this backdrop, investors are finding the logistics space extremely attractive to invest from a high valuation it will offer from a long-term perspective. Most certainly, women in logistics will ride that wave.
Hey Deedee®, India’s only all-women last mile logistic services company seems a very promising bet considering that the company provides solution to e-commerce companies for their last mile delivery. Hey Deedee has successfully raised pre-seed funding of $ 500,000 from Metaform Ventures LLC of an undisclosed sum of valuation. The funds are going to be utilized for expansion of footprint, further gaining bandwidth and build technology. They intend to grow from current four cities to 10 cities in this calendar year 2018.
Revathi Roy, Serial Entrepreneur and Pioneer of Asias 1st Womens cab service, is the co-founder of Hey Deedee, along with Jagdish Gothi, 2nd generation entrepreneur of the Kamdhenu group. Revathi pioneered in 2007, has spent over a decade in the transport industry, and done some path breaking work.
Ms. Revathi Roy, Serial Entrepreneur, Pioneer of Asia’s 1st Taxi service for women and Co-Founder of Hey Deedee® said, “With a mission to train and employ 10,000 women by 2018, Hey Deedee aims to become the largest solution provider for hyperlocals and offers last mile delivery services within the city through its hub and spoke model. The pre-seed funding has not only boosted our confidence, but it will enable us to achieve our ambitious goals. Metaform Ventures LLC has seen the huge growth potential this sector holds, and our unique positioning makes it a strategic fit for them. This funding will fuel our expansion and leapfrog us into a growth trajectory. We are excited to soon launch our four-wheeler warehouse to hub deliveries with an all women drivers team.”
Mr. Nilesh Jain, angel investor, serial entrepreneur and founder Metafarm Ventures LLC said on the investment, “We need women at all levels contributing to change the dynamics on reshaping of our economy. An empowered woman is powerful beyond measure and capable beyond description. I chose to back Revathi Roy for her enduring ledership on empowering women in logistics, a fast growing, untapped (women powered) sector with much needed diversity. HeyDeeDee continues to break down walls and defy stereotypes; creating a sector for women empowered logistics, not just logistics but heavy logistics.”
Ms. Roy further added that, “Hey Deedee® not only offers last mile delivery service within the city, hassle-free booking on the application but provides employability for women, with an all-women parcel delivery fleet. Women who are from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds are trained to become riders and thus empowered. Assistance is also provided to them for procurement of a two-wheeler loan to purchase the two-wheelers which offers them skilling and sustainable livelihood. The USP of Hey Deedee is the buildup of the pool of human resources to do this job by skilling the girls in a 30—45 day program. It is also solving a huge problem of urban women unemployment. We currently have 2000+ women registered, all under different stages of training, and have 62 riders on the job, in Mumbai, Bangalore, Nagpur and Pune. We currently take both a per delivery model (with Amazon) and a management percentage model (with E-comm Express) and fixed income model in the current growth stage.”
Hey Deedee® delivered record 250,000 parcels till date for alliance partners Amazon, The Curry Brothers, The Bohri Kitchen, Subway, Herbivore, Shophop, Brijwasi, Pizza Hut, Ecomm Express, Ziptown, Spicebox, Everyday Gourmet kitchen, Pitaburg, Birdy’s, Snackboxwallah, Godrej Nature’s Basket, Fresh India Organics. Some of the past clients include Pizza Hut, Subway, Heribvore, ZipTown, Brijwasi, ShopHop and thousands of retail customers.
About Hey Deedee®
Hey Deedee® was started in August 2016 and is India’s only all-women last mile logistic services which delivers parcels across Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and Bangalore. There are 100+ Hey Deedee® women riders across these four locations. Total staff strength across India is about 60. Incorporated as Zaffiro Learning, Revathy Roy set up Hey Deedee® along with financial investor Jagdish Gothi of Kamdhenu stores. Hey Deedee® mobilises women from low-income communities, trains them to drive two-wheelers and has them undertake last-mile delivery for companies like Amazon, Pizza Hut, Subway and logistics provider Shadowfax among others. Hey Deedee® hinges on the empowerment of women. The ladies come from economically challenged backgrounds where Hey Deedee® empowers them with a skill so that they can become financially independent and earn respect.
Hey Deedee® has now become completely application based, so that both customers and businesses can avail of the parcel delivery service, in real-time, in a seamless fashion. Once a delivery is required to be done, the customer simply has to download and register on the application, feed in the pick-up and drop-off location, and receive push notifications when the rider has picked up the parcel, is in transit, and has dropped it off securely at the location. There will be several intra-city hubs with riders in constant movement, so that delivery is quick and efficient.
Training and funding partners of Hey Deedee®:
RPG (Ceat Swayam), BARTI (Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training Institute), MSSDS (Maharashtra State Skill Development Society), Hero, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra Foundation
About Metaform Ventures LLC
Metaform Ventures LLC is an investment fund based out of Pleasanton, California, USA lead by angel investor and serial entrepreneur Nilesh Javerchand Jain along with his family and close friends. The fund has made sizeable seed investments into start-ups and early stage ventures in India in financial year 2017. The fund’s last notable investment was into Picostone, a quick affordable home-automation solution.
Nilesh is a serial entrepreneur, strategic marketing advisor, having passion towards mentoring startups for growth on a global scale. Seasoned professional in sales management and business development, have been transforming growth stories for multiple companies. His Leadership experience spans from hard core technology and healthcare industry, to manufacturing, supply chain companies and many more.
With over 20+ years of entrepreneurial and operational experience, he has a proven track record of building and managing companies, revenue centers as well as developing strategies to improve businesses. Investor in over +25 companies, CEO and Co-Founder of 5+ companies, has handled leadership and senior roles throughout.
Great initiative.
thats the way to do it tristha.proud of you 🙂