Deliver, a B2B online marketplace for shipping services, has received 500 million roubles from VEB Ventures, a subsidiary of VEB.RF. Financing is intended to scale up and geographically expand the use of the IT product and launch new services for customers and shippers.
Deliver enables large consignors to substantially reduce their shipping costs through access to a great number of privately owned vehicles without detriment to service quality, cargo safety, security, tax compliance or stable pricing. More than 59,000 companies are now connected to Deliver.
The company automated the process of Full Truck Load (FTL) shipping almost completely. For consignors, Deliver is a digital freight forwarder that is solely responsible for cargo delivery, customer service and stable transport costs.
Using its own AI technology, the Deliver marketplace is able to automatically give scores to drivers, monitor their taxation, increase the number of available vehicles at peak times, predict possible delays and deviations and ensure long-lasting fixed rates. Deliver serves major multiformat retailers, food producers and FMCG companies.
The Russian FTL market is fragmented: the ten largest shippers represent only 2% of the market. As estimated by VEB Ventures, the market was worth about 916 billion roubles in 2019 and is projected to grow by an annual average of 7% until 2023. The drivers of growth include the statutory codification and development of e-commerce, which generated 1.72 trillion roubles in Russia in 2019 and is expected to rise by 44% in 2020.
“VEB Ventures has joined the shareholders of Deliver, leading Russian and international investors, namely the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and its Middle East partners, such as Mubadala, along with A&NN Investments, InVenture Partners and Amereus Group. Support from the existing co-owners, their experience and resources, as well as the VEB.RF Group’s capabilities, will allow Deliver to attain sustained and long-lasting industry leadership,” VEB Ventures CEO Oleg Teplov said.
“We are delighted to welcome VEB Ventures to Deliver. The confidence of such a strong player proves once again that the company is heading in the right direction. I’m sure together we can make Deliver not only the undisputed leader in digital technology development, but also the biggest company in the entire logistics industry,” Deliver founder and CEO Danil Rudakov emphasised.
VEB.RF-Supported Central Ring Road Project Phase 4 Begins Operation
An official ceremony took place to mark the opening of regular traffic via CRR-4 (Phase 4 of the Moscow Region’s Central Ring Road), a project completed with the VEB.RF Group’s involvement.
“The development of highway infrastructure is a key area of VEB.RF’s investment. We are pleased that CRR-4 traffic was opened 10 months ahead of schedule. The Central Ring Road and, specifically, the CRR-4 project will relieve the Moscow transport hub of transit freight traffic. In addition, the project will improve transport accessibility in neighbouring agglomerations in the Moscow Region (due to substantially reduced travel time), which is extremely important for people. As a development institution, VEB.RF helped the project to raise subordinated debt capital and became a member of the syndicate of senior lenders, while InfraVEB acquired a stake in the concessionaire and provided equity financing,” VEB.RF Vice-President Vera Aleksandrova said.
CRR-4 promotes cross-border transport through the Western Europe-Western China transport corridor. Connecting the M-7 Volga federal highway to M-4 Don, the 96.5-kilometre road runs in the south-east of the Moscow Region, 50 kilometres from the Moscow Ring Road.
The total project value exceeds 100 billion roubles. Private funding for the project consists of 4.1 billion roubles in subordinated debt for 20 years (junior tranches) and a syndicated loan provided by senior lenders, namely VEB.RF, Gazprombank, Sberbank and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), for a total of 35.8 billion roubles for 17 years.