How Porter Became a 8000 Crore Rs Logistics Company? (Startup Case Study)

00:00 Intro
01:26 Understanding the Problem
03:29 How Porter Started
05:51 Early Days
07:53 Things Turned Bad
09:37 Rebuilding Porter
12:31 Future for Porter
In FY-2023, India's logistics costs exceeded 14% of its GDP, significantly higher than China's 10%. This highlights the inefficiency and high expenses of India's supply chain compared to more efficient nations like Vietnam and Thailand. The Indian government has acknowledged this issue, launching a national logistics policy in 2022 aiming to reduce these costs to 8%, aligning with developed countries. However, government policies alone are insufficient; the private sector and startups must also contribute to addressing these inefficiencies.
One such startup, Porter, has emerged as a rapidly growing logistics company in India. Inspired by Uber's transformation of the taxi industry, Porter aims to revolutionize last-mile logistics in India, targeting a $200 billion market. To understand Porter's impact, it is essential to comprehend the problem it addresses: intracity logistics, which involves transporting goods within a city. Efficient logistics are crucial for economic productivity, and in India, 90% of the sector remains unorganized.
Porter was founded by Uttam Digga and Pranav Goel, two IIT Kharagpur alumni who identified the inefficiencies in the logistics sector, similar to those in the pre-Uber taxi industry. Small business owners faced challenges such as difficulty finding drivers, high costs, and unreliable delivery times. Inspired by Uber's success, Digga and Goel sought to create a marketplace connecting truck drivers with customers, improving vehicle utilization and reducing costs.
In 2013, while working as analysts at JP Morgan, Digga and Goel were inspired by Uber's use of technology to optimize the ride-hailing industry. They noticed numerous light commercial vehicles parked unused and realized the potential for a similar solution in logistics. They spoke with over 500 truck drivers and discovered the inefficiencies in their industry, with drivers averaging only 1-2 orders per day despite the capacity for 4-5. This led to the birth of Porter, aiming to replicate Uber's model for goods transportation.
Initially, Porter operated manually with Digga and Goel dividing responsibilities: Digga onboarded truck drivers, while Goel secured customers. Using just a phone and Google Sheets, they managed the operations without an app. As their customer base grew, they brought in Vikas Choudhary, a tech expert from IIT Kanpur, to develop their technology platform. By pitching their service as 20% cheaper, Porter quickly attracted over 500 business customers, processing 3,000 bookings monthly and generating significant revenue.
Porter's early success enabled them to raise $500,000 in seed funding and $5.5 million in a Series A round. However, growth brought challenges. In 2015, flush with funding, they prematurely expanded into intercity logistics, an already crowded market. This expansion strained their resources, leading to a temporary closure of the new vertical and layoffs. Additionally, their initial pricing strategy became less effective, necessitating a focus on improving service quality.
To enhance customer experience, Porter ensured timely driver arrivals and deliveries. They leveraged their app to track drivers via GPS, providing real-time updates to customers and reallocating drivers in case of delays. They also addressed inefficiencies at loading and unloading stations by introducing per-minute charges, and incentivizing punctuality among customers.
These improvements led to significant growth, with Porter ensuring that 80% of their drivers received return trip orders, increasing their earnings by 20-30%. This efficiency attracted attention, resulting in Mahindra Group merging their logistics platform, SmartShift, with Porter and investing $10 million.
In 2020, Porter expanded into two-wheeler parcel delivery, quickly surpassing established competitor Dunzo in Bengaluru. Their success continued, with a $100 million Series E funding round in 2021 and expansion to over 20 cities. By FY23, Porter achieved a revenue of ₹1,750 crore. Despite their scale, Porter maintained high service quality, reflected in their 4.8 rating on the Google Play Store from over 650,000 users.
Porter's future holds vast opportunities, particularly in the $40 billion intracity logistics market and the $200 billion intercity market. With cost-effectiveness and timely service as their USP, Porter aims to replicate their intracity success in intercity logistics. They are also incorporating electric vehicles into their fleet, reducing operational costs and environmental impact.
Additionally, drone deliveries present a potential growth avenue for Porter. While still in its early stages in India, successful drone delivery trials by other companies indicate its feasibility, especially in regions with poor road infrastructure.
#startup #business #entrepreneur #porter

[@vipuull]

Using porter from last 2years for my business and its a wonderful product especially for logistics dependent business like us..

[@Brodragon2225]

What you guys do and why amazon or Flipkart is not doing the logistics

[@rohitk4544]

Thank you for another great story... porter is a great business and is slowly taking over the logistics space in India... i wont be surprised if reliance invests in it soon and takes a big chunk of the company.

[@kshitijpandey6514]

Hope they dont or else it would be the next Dunzo

[@Anshuman044]

in india adani is the biggest player in logistics and I think adani would be intrested more into this business

[@akkiup]

Another great video brother. keep up the good work..

[@ritukiran]

I love watching start-up stories - I feel such a thrill and zing rush thru me - each time I hear our people succeed. Kudos and may this growth continue!

[@vitsboy46]

Porter has been great so far. Unfortunately there are some bad apples so they need to be careful with people who are on boarded. Attention to uniform is fine but given the weather Porter needs to ensure their vehicles are well equipped

[@Brodragon2225]

Does they own all trucks and controls all drivers

[@mawiteiichawngthu4336]

Drivers are partners not Employees

[@mds33483]

Nice video thanks

[@sidjoker123]

loss making 0f ~150 cr in ~2000cr revenue! definitely not efficient as claimed in Video. But its a great insight video of how start ups works!

[@tamanna4697]

only saw their logo till now irl, it seems like a pretty efficient company. wonder how they will deal w unprofessional drivers cause the same is happening w ola now🤷‍♀

[@KiranKadambari]

Video full of praises, seems like a sponsered video, i had worst experience with porter never using them again.

[@vishnumate13]

I've had a bad experience with PORTER. The third party movers on the platform asked for extra money. More than it was shown on the app😐. The customer care was of no use as well

[@ReepuShudan]

And in 149cr loss

[@rajdeepsen3011]

make an video on startups engaged in port and container shipping sector

[@shreyasmd968]

Porter is by far one of the best companies.

[@user-fv4lx8ew7r]

Please bring case study of tata chemical

[@rakshitpatel5172]

We use porter daily fir our business it's a very good solution for businesses

[@Areesh2]

4:01 even after uber its the same for the cabs i believe , non availability, surge prices , no quality checks , and majaorly in some other countries uber charges customers a cleaning fee so people dont dare to vomit or dirty up the car and the driver gets compensated thus it encourages both the parties to keep the car clean , in India the story is not the same

[@abtherukh2092]

They are asking for extra money for filling the goods in the truck. The drivers should be paid for the service depending on the weigh n size of goods

[@GoFlyFeetOnGround]

What about Borzo and Shadowflex?

[@tatyalombtyagaming8771]

Move fast Translogistic will be the next upcoming company in few years 😉😍

[@abhishekarya5646]

The new style of narration is a bit annoying… lullaby, made me sleep

[@zenmode216]

That’s what happens when you use AI and think everyone can tell a story!

[@devagarwal3250]

He is good for yt shorts

[@Anilkumar-gr3mo]

yea the speed is missing obviously

[@Vetcommune-ur2zu]

Yes

[@naveenmass3893]

Porter is wonderful company to shipping products.

[@Bhatakti_Aatma23]

I study at Shillong and most of the logistics companies do not serve here . 😢 cant send goods to my home from Shillong

[@AnuragMishra-js2fm]

Sir plz 8fit Lunch in lucknow

[@laughrobot]

I am a porter partner... I have a call recording of Porter customer care calling me and telling me my exact location when I was offline and also suspended me for not accepting this and for asking back questions.. and there is no escalation email

[@rajdeepsen3011]

Porter would definitely be one of the top logistics companies in the world

[@formaltechz]

Good evening bro i am balaji be tech student undergraduate 1st yr i am from hyd currently working with a start up company which makes hydrogen bike we have done a prototype and got funding for rd and making vechile we are almost near to it me and my team want funds and mentorship can help us or connect us to someone

[@Abgz199]

I can contact you some

[@vinaybhat7670]

All the best bro.... Hydrogen engines r far more practical than EVs...

[@formaltechz]

@@vinaybhat7670 thank u means a lot I am looking out for mentors to guide me nd a few incubation centres which can really look upto our idea

[@santoshkumarmajhi5853]

All the best bro, even I am from hyd. Would love to see your creation .

[@formaltechz]

@@santoshkumarmajhi5853 I need mentors

[@varunm7011]

you probably should improve your voice highs and lows during the narration..

[@yasho.]

we're already down from 16 to 14% within two years

[@sachindaftari]

Porter services is good , as per indian standards

[@AkhandaBharatham]

Commission jyada lete hai delivery partners se aur hamara problems ko sunthe hi nahi

[@user-qx9jf7ju1r]

Vijayawada also has a very good need for Porter, but they don't come to Vijayawada They always target the metropolitan Cities tier 2 cities a very big business hub And it has a very big transportation hub. They don't target I wonder why🤔🤔🤔🤔❓❔

[@SamithShivakumar]

Maybe because of less margins

[@sagarsarkar4725]

Bhai neend aa rhi tumko sunke 😅

[@Noworldscience]

👍

[@zsui7823]

how intracity logistic market is 40Billion dollar in google it shows 1 billion dollar only

[@Vivo-st7pz]

If drone delivery is successful in overseas..... it take to in india almost 10 years after startup....😂😂😂

[@mohanishpatel108]

Seems like a sponsored video

[@karthikfno]

Only companies make money not partners they are just increasing % what partners get very bad for partners

[@user-ly5jp2if8d]

Lynk logistics video

[@harshbhayani7432]

Had a decent experience with Porter but in some cases they cause tremendous loss. They will use predatory practices to force you to close the trip for incomplete deliveries. Call the next day and say we are closing the customer care ticket. Since they call from random numbers, they say 'We are not required to share customer care number and email". I was hopeful that someone would bring professionalism in this industry. But they are brutally unprofessional. Use Porter with precaution.

[@user-js7xu8qy3d]

Looting in costs😢

[@uruttir0]

Porter is a bad start for the driver. This is actually a company that cheats its own employees.. It will blow up like a balloon and burst one day

[@nkhl777]

why he narrating like he in a poem recital

[@karthikraja2427]

Big fake company Porter promise...

[@user-tw8cj8to2e]

its a pathetic company to work for! as a software engineer!

[@pranavs-rz3cg]

Why ?

[@user-tw8cj8to2e]

@@pranavs-rz3cg you can check reviews in company review portals

[@prathm87]

​@@pranavs-rz3cg😂😂

[@pranavs-rz3cg]

@@prathm87 what to laugh here ?

[@real_gambler]

please stop showing fake valuation numbers😅

[@karthikraja2427]

Very big fake company Porter

[@ajith.giove069]

Very bad narration and those smirks ughhh very bad give it to that white guy