Large opportunity in courier aggregation going forward: Unicommerce’s Kapil Makhija on Shipway acquisition

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. There is a massive opportunity in courier aggregation as e-commerce is evolving fast and has sufficient headroom for growth in the coming years, Kapil Makhija, managing director and chief executive officer of listed e-commerce SaaS platform Unicommerce, told Mint, shortly after announcing the acquisition of courier aggregation and automation platform Shipway. “Courier aggregation is a large opportunity.

Today, it accounts for more than 85% of Shipway’s total revenue and will continue to be a primary driver going forward. It also ties in with Unicommerce’s core products," Makhija said in an interview. The e-commerce enablement SaaS platform acquired a 42.76% stake in Shipway for ₹68.4 crore in cash, and will acquire the remaining stake within a year through a stock swap by issue of equity shares or a merger, it said in a stock exchange filing late on Monday evening.

The entire deal is expected to be worth ₹200 crore, according to a person in the know who did not want to be named. Unicommerce’s Makhija did not comment on the total deal size. Founded in 2015, Gurugram-based Shipway offers shipping software solutions to over 3,000 e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands across 29,000 pin codes.

It also provides an automated marketing platform called ConvertWay to equip brands with artificial intelligence-powered marketing tools. Shipway competes with Temasek-backed Shiprocket in the courier aggregation space which is a roughly ₹3,800-4,300 crore market, according to industry estimates. The acquisition allows Unicommerce to enter a brand’s customer engagement journey which includes marketing automation and chatbots for sales and support, he said.