Hyperlocal delivery startup Opinio gets $7M cash boost

Opinio, an on-demand delivery startup for hyperlocal businesses, raised US$7 million in its latest round of funding today from Accel Partners, Sands Capital, and logistics company Delhivery. The CEO of Delhivery, Sahil Barura, has also joined Opinio’s board.

Founded by Mayank Kumar and Lokesh Jangid, the startup raised US$1.3 million in seed funding earlier this year from Accel Partners, Tracxn, and other angel investors. The company currently operates in Bangalore, Delhi/NCR, and Hyderabad, and plans to increase its core team by at least 200 people.

In order to compete with other delivery startups, Opinio explains that its differentiator is its focus on technology. The startup equips merchants with an app that will help them locate and hire Opinio delivery workers. It also uses GPS to provide a real-time delivery tracker.

“The companies which will eventually win this market will be those that are building technology, not the operations-focused ones. You really need to have a scalable technology,” Kumar explained in an earlier conversation with Tech in Asia.

This is Delhivery’s second investment in the past year. The first was in Parcelled, an on-demand shipping startup. Delhivery provides ecommerce sites with end-to-end supply chain solutions and raised a Series D round to the tune of US$85 million in May.

Do you agree with Opinio? Is technology more important than operations when creating a successful hyperlocal delivery startup?