With the Herculean task of organising the traditionally unorganised international cargo management and transportation industry, iKargos was established 2 years ago, on 27th May, 2020 by Rekha Atri. Marking its 2nd anniversary, there could perhaps not be a better gift than getting access to funding to propel the business to new heights. The foundation on which the company was established was aimed at empowering the end customer with complete control and transparency regarding the cargo (international and domestic) that he/she wishes to send or receive.
Traditionally, the customers had no option but to rely on the monopoly companies in the space. The problem with that is that they had no way to gauge the status of their shipment, had to pay insane commissions to the middlemen, and had to arrange myriad certificates depending on the country of origin and the destination. iKargos introduced a digital element into the industry to enable the end-users to keep track of every aspect of their shipment. Moreover, iKargos takes care of all the certifications and commissions required at any stage of the process and the customer just needs to sit back and wait for his/her cargo to arrive.
Having spent a good decade in the top consulting firms like Deloitte and PwC, Rekha recognised the need to digitise the entire process in a bid to organise this humungous sector. At the same time, the power was transferred to the consumers highlighting the company’s transparent operation and services. Having already grown 10x year-on-year, with the fresh funding, Rekha is confident that the business will experience 50x growth going forward. This can be attributed to the fact that the funds will be allotted to optimising operations, developing technology and devising customer-oriented solutions to expand internationally.
Speaking to the founder of iKargos Rekha Atri, she says, “It’s been 2 years since we started and 1 year since we launched our online platform iKargos.com. We have added customers from varied industries like solar, food products, plastics, machinery, metals etc. Customers are appreciating
The integrated Dashboard showing all shipments in one place Transparency about charges
- One-stop-shop for freight, customs clearance, transportation, certification etc
- All documents available at the click of a button
We are adding more ports and rates rapidly and will continue growing our service offerings.”
Industry Overview
Logistics is a $250 billion market in India, poised to reach $330 billion by 2025 and is growing at a CAGR of 10.5%. Further, only 10-15 per cent of the overall market is owned by organised players. The online vertical is estimated around $30 billion by 2025. As per a recent report by Arthur D. Little India in collaboration with the CII, India’s Logistics and supply chain costs currently amount to a staggering $400 billion, up to 14% of the GDP, compared to the global average of 8%, raising a competitiveness gap of approximately $180 billion. With such a mammoth opportunity, iKargos finds itself at the perfect junction to grab a significant chunk of this sector and emerge as a force to be reckoned with.
Services offered by iKargos.com
- Air and Sea Freight
- HS code Search
- Certification
- Product Compliance
- Custom Clearance
- Warehousing
- Inland Transportation
- First and Last mile service
- Cargo Insurance
- Online Tracking of Cargo
- Supply Chain Consulting
- Reporting
- Survey and Inspection
By digitising this unorganised space and experiencing multi-fold growth within a brief amount of time, iKargos has proven that it is on to something big. With this fresh funding and interest from seasoned investors, it aims to make the entire process even easier for the general public across the globe.
Praveen Sinha, an early investor in iKargos says, “iKargos has picked a good problem to solve. The founding team is solid and enthusiastic. The industry is highly unorganised, which provides an excellent play for technological disruptions. We backed the idea in its nascent stage. The increasing interest in iKargos from the investor community validates our belief further. This bodes well for iKargos, and we expect the growth to be lightning fast.”