Delhivery’s Q1 Show, Weekly Funding Rebounds & More

Delhivery’s Lacklustre Q1 Show

Delhivery’s profitability remained under pressure in Q1. Macroeconomic shocks and fixed cost structures tested the unit economics of the logistics giant during the quarter, even as healthy revenue growth, improving EBITDA and growing volumes cushioned some of this blow.

Here is a quick overview of Delhivery’s Q1 FY27 performance:

• Profit tanked 65% YoY to ₹31.9 Cr
• Operating Revenue rose 28% YoY to ₹2,931 Cr
• Total expenses jumped 29% YoY to ₹3,012 Cr
• EBITDA improved 6.5% YoY to ₹156 Cr

Profit Pressure: The sharp profit decline came as labour shortages, fuel costs, weather disruptions and revised statutory minimum wages across four states weighed heavily on Delhivery’s Q1 earnings. As a result, it had to splurge to deploy additional staff and network capacity to maintain service quality. 

Volume Game: Nevertheless, Delhivery continued to see healthy traction across its transport businesses. Express parcel volumes grew strongly, supported by market share gains among existing customers and new client additions across D2C, SME and consumer segments. Similarly, part-truckload (PTL) volumes also improved, aided by the expansion of its business development teams across regions.

New Bets: Delhivery also continues to build new growth engines. The logistics giant’s B2C offering (Delhivery Local) crossed an ARR of ₹100 Cr during the quarter, while the company lined up ₹50 Cr to bolster its NBFC arm. Alongside, it also launched an AI-powered tool to reduce return-to-origin shipments, commissioned an automated storage system and introduced AI-native Delhivery Maps. 

Road Ahead: Going forward, the listed giant expects pricing revisions to offer some relief in the coming quarters. It also projects its express parcel volumes to grow by 20-30% and PTL volumes by 18-22% in FY27, supporting its top line growth. Meanwhile, Delhivery Local appears poised to close the ongoing fiscal with an ARR of ₹200 Cr. 

As the logistics giant bets on tech-driven cost optimisations to offset persistent inflation, here is how Delhivery fared on the financial front in Q1…

From The Editor’s Desk

Weekly Funding Rebounds

• Indian startups cumulatively raised $274.4 Mn last week, up 74% from $142.3 Mn raised in the preceding week. Deal count also doubled week-on-week to 22. River Mobility and InRisk Labs took home the biggest cheques at $120 Mn and $27 Mn, respectively.
• Cleantech emerged as the most funded startup sector last week, bagging $136 Mn across four deals. AI also continued to court investors, with seven startups raising $23.3 Mn.
• Seed stage funding remained subdued last week and declined 35% week-on-week. Overall, five early stage startups raised $7.7 Mn last week. Meanwhile, DeVC emerged as the most active investor, backing three startups.

Flipkart’s Premium Push

• The ecommerce major’s quick commerce arm, Minutes, is foraying into the premium grocery segment with the launch of its private label brand, called Pykd. Flipkart plans to pilot the service in Bengaluru first. 
• Under this, it will sell products like cheese, coffee, noodles, ramen, ghee, oils and chips. Besides its own range of specialty food products, Pykd also plans to onboard third-party premium brands to expand its gourmet offerings. 
• This comes as Flipkart continues to aggressively scale its quick commerce vertical. Minutes currently claims to operate 1,000 dark stores across 130 cities. It plans to expand its network further to 1,500 centres over the next few months.

Bullish Week For Startup Stocks

• Of the 59 listed new-age tech companies under Inc42’s coverage, 37 ended last week in the black, gaining between 0.16% to 17.45%. The remaining 21 declined between 0.3% and 14.17%. Klassroom listed last week, hence not included in the comparison.
• Ather and Capillary Technologies emerged as the biggest gainers, while XX and XX shed the most. Including Klassroom, the combined market capitalisation of the 59 companies stood at $151.96 Bn, up nearly 11% from $136.91 Bn a week earlier. 
• Looking ahead, investors will track inflation data, foreign exchange reserves and the ongoing Q1 FY27 earnings season for market cues. Crude oil prices, US labour market and developments around the Strait of Hormuz will also remain key triggers. 

Maharashtra’s New Aggregator Rules

• The state government plans to bring food delivery and ecommerce platforms under its bike-taxi rules. This could mandate consumer tech startups to deploy EVs, provide insurance cover and contribute 2% of each trip’s fare to a driver welfare fund. 
• The proposal is currently under review by Maharashtra’s law and judiciary department and is yet to receive final approval. If approved, the new regime could increase compliance costs and hit the bottom lines of aggregator platforms.
• Last year, Karnataka also notified a gig worker welfare law, which established a welfare board, a fund for gig workers and mandated a welfare contribution from platforms. Industry bodies and players have challenged the law before the Karnataka HC.

MDR Debate Continues

• Amid growing speculation over the possible reintroduction of MDR on select UPI transactions, both the finance ministry and industry body Payments Council of India has clarified that UPI payments will remain free for consumers. 
• The clarification came after the Lok Sabha passed a Bill that proposes amendments to the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. This could enable the Centre to make MDR chargeable for certain online transactions.
• While the framework is yet to be finalised, the government is expected to levy an MDR of 0.05% to 0.07% on UPI transactions above ₹2,000 for businesses with an annual turnover of more than ₹1 Cr. Industry players have welcomed the move.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Inside Optimotion’s Plug-And-Play EV Mobility Model

India’s last-mile delivery sector is under constant pressure to become faster and cheaper, but switching to EVs is not as easy as replacing petrol bikes. Businesses also need financing, maintenance and fleet management. Enter Optimotion, a startup trying to fix this gap.

Beyond Selling EVs: Founded in 2024, Optimotion is building an electric two-wheeler fleet for last-mile delivery operations. Rather than manufacturing vehicles, the bootstrapped startup works as a fleet operator and brings together EVs, financing, servicing and operational support under one roof.

An Ecosystem Approach: Optimotion partners with vehicle manufacturers, financing companies and service providers to make EV adoption easier for logistics and delivery companies. It also works to remove the operational complexity that often comes with electrification, including procurement, upkeep and fleet coordination. This model allows clients to access electric mobility without building the entire infrastructure from scratch.

Looking Ahead: India’s last-mile delivery market is projected to cross $14.45 Bn by 2031, creating room for fleet operators that can reduce operating costs for businesses while improving delivery efficiency. The startup’s challenge will be to scale its fleet, maintain uptime and build a sustainable business without owning the manufacturing layer. With much on its plate, can Optimotion become the mobility partner of choice for delivery companies?

Infographic Of The Day

India’s instant home services space is booming, but the real battle has shifted from growth to unit economics. From chasing lower CAC to higher worker utilisation, here is how ultrafast home services players are trying to crack the category unit economics…

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