Porter is India’s newest unicorn following internal funding round: report

Bengaluru-based logistics services provider Porter has become the latest unicorn, India’s third this year, following a fresh internal round of funding among friends and family, Moneycontrol reported. 

About 20 individuals bought shares worth ₹25 crore (about $30 million) from the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) pool at a valuation of $1 billion, the report said, citing people aware of the issue.

A unicorn is a privately held company with a value of over $1 billion. Porter is the third unicorn this year after Ola’s AI startup Krutrim and business-to-business software as a service (SaaS) company Perfios.

An ESOP grants company stock to staff, especially to some employees who have spent a certain duration at the organization. It is often used by startups to attract and retain top talent.

Founded in 2014 by Pranav Goel, Uttam Digga and Vikas Choudhary, the company offers last-mile delivery operations for businesses and individual customers by providing on-demand light commercial vehicles (LCVs).

The company has so far raised  about $150 million in several rounds of funding. 

In October 2021, Porter had raised nearly $100 million in a Series E funding at valuation of $500 million. 

That funding round was led by Tiger Global Management and Vitruvian Partners, and joined by existing investors Sequoia Capital India (now Peak XV Partners) and Lightrock India.

The latest round comes after Porter’s revenue more than doubled to ₹1,754 crore in FY23 from ₹848 crore in FY22, Moneycontrol reported.

“The recent round reaffirms the leadership’s trust in Porter’s growth potential. Since the previous ESOP liquidation event, Porter’s annual recurring revenue has increased 3-4X,” the report said, citing another person aware of the development.