Indian logistics company Xpressbees became a unicorn in February 2022 after announcing a $300 million Series F. The financing was led by Blackstone Growth, TPG Growth and ChrysCapital, with existing investors Investcorp and Norwest Venture Partners also participating. Investor announcements placed the company’s valuation above $1 billion; contemporaneous media reports put it at $1.2 billion.
How Xpressbees became a unicorn
A unicorn is a privately held startup valued at more than $1 billion. Xpressbees crossed that threshold with its Series F financing, announced on February 9, 2022. Blackstone and TPG’s announcements described the valuation as above $1 billion, while TechCrunch and Business Standard reported a $1.2 billion valuation at the time. That $1.2 billion figure is a historical report, not a current valuation.
The financing was reported as $300 million in total. Blackstone Growth, TPG Growth and ChrysCapital led it; Investcorp and Norwest Venture Partners were among the participating existing investors. Blackstone’s announcement referred to BXG funds leading the investment and named TPG Capital and ChrysCapital, while TPG’s announcement described the round as led by Blackstone Growth, TPG Growth and ChrysCapital.
Who invested, and how the $300 million was structured
| Item | Reported details |
|---|---|
| Total Series F | $300 million, announced February 9, 2022, according to Blackstone and TPG announcements. |
| Lead investors | Blackstone Growth, TPG Growth and ChrysCapital, according to TPG’s announcement. |
| Other participants | Existing investors Investcorp and Norwest Venture Partners, named in the announcements. |
| Primary capital | $100 million, according to TechCrunch’s 2022 report. Primary capital goes to the company. |
| Secondary share sales | $200 million, according to TechCrunch’s 2022 report. Secondary sales involve existing shareholders selling shares rather than all proceeds going to the company. |
The split between primary and secondary proceeds comes from TechCrunch’s reporting; it does not appear in the investor announcements. TechCrunch said the secondary portion enabled Alibaba to make a partial exit and an unnamed Chinese investor to exit fully.
#1 Best Overall
- Bluetooth Wireless Connection: KNAON Bluetooth shipping label printer enables wireless printing. For Mobile users, download the 'FlashLabel Pro' app from APP Store or Google Play for printing. Also, supports Windows and macOS, and can directly connect to the printer by downloading the 'FlashLabel Pro' App. Windows 7 or later computers can also print via Bluetooth by installing the latest advanced driver. Note: All devices CANNOT be connected directly to Bluetooth, and must be used through the 'FlashLabel Pro' app.
- USB Cable Connectivity: This printer ensures seamless USB connectivity with macOS, Windows (7 and above), ChromeOS, and Linux. KNAON printer features a built-in USB drive preloaded with drivers and tutorial videos for a fast and hassle-free setup. For ChromeOS, need to install 'FlashLabel' extension to your Google Chrome.
- Versatile DIY Labeling Options: KNAON Thermal Shipping Label Printer offers a vast selection of pre-designed templates, including 3,000+ templates, 5,000+ icons, and 100+ fonts available in the app. Designed for both professional and personal use, it supports various thermal paper sizes, ensuring effortless customization for all your labeling needs. Ideal for printing DIY shipping labels, barcode labels, thank-you labels, mailing labels, name tags, price tags, and various small thermal labels.
- Seamless Multi-Platform Compatibility: This Bluetooth shipping label printer works effortlessly with all major platforms, including Amazon, eBay, Shopify, USPS, UPS, Etsy, PayPal, Poshmark, DHL, and more, ensuring smooth and efficient label printing. (Note: Save the logistics label as a PDF file on the shipping platforms, then import it into the 'FlashLabel Pro' app for printing).
- Portable & Stylish Design: KNAON multi-function thermal label printer offers user-friendly operation in a compact design. Its perfect size (7.17 x 3.9 x 3.43 inches) makes it simple to store anywhere. With a fast printing speed of up to 180 mm/s and support for paper widths from 1.5 to 4.2 inches. The package also includes 10 test printing papers to get you started right away.
What Xpressbees does
Founded in India in 2015, Xpressbees began by serving FirstCry and later expanded into business-to-business logistics, third-party logistics and cross-border services. The Competition Commission of India describes its activities as express parcel shipping, B2B part-truckload and full-truckload freight, cross-border logistics, and third-party or contract logistics.
The company’s network figures depend on the source, date and measure, so they should not be treated as one directly comparable sequence:
Rank #2
- Bluetooth Wireless Connection: KNAON Y41BT Bluetooth shipping label printer enables wireless printing. For iOS and Android users, need to download the 'FlashLabel Pro' App from Apple Store or Google Play. Windows 7 or later computers can also print via Bluetooth by installing the latest advanced driver. Mac users with M1/M2/M3/M4 processors can connect to the printer by downloading the 'FlashLabel Pro' App from Apple Store. Note: All devices CANNOT be connected directly to Bluetooth, and must be used through the 'FlashLabel Pro' app.
- USB Cable Connectivity: This printer ensures seamless USB connectivity with macOS, Windows (7 and above), ChromeOS, and Linux. KNAON printer features a built-in USB drive preloaded with drivers and tutorial videos for a fast and hassle-free setup. For ChromeOS, need to install 'FlashLabel' extension to your Google Chrome.
- Versatile DIY Labeling Options: KNAON Thermal Shipping Label Printer offers a vast selection of pre-designed templates, including 3,000+ templates, 5,000+ icons, and 100+ fonts available in the app. Designed for both professional and personal use, it supports various thermal paper sizes, ensuring effortless customization for all your labeling needs. Ideal for printing DIY shipping labels, barcode labels, thank-you labels, mailing labels, name tags, price tags, and various small thermal labels.
- Seamless Multi-Platform Compatibility: This Bluetooth shipping label printer works effortlessly with all major platforms, including Amazon, eBay, Shopify, USPS, UPS, Etsy, PayPal, Poshmark, DHL, and more, ensuring smooth and efficient label printing. (Note: Save the logistics label as a PDF file on the shipping platforms, then import it into the 'FlashLabel Pro' app for printing).
- Portable & Stylish Design: KNAON multi-function thermal label printer offers user-friendly operation in a compact design. Its perfect size (7.2 x 3.15 x 2.65 inches) makes it simple to store anywhere. With a fast printing speed of up to 180 mm/s and supports paper widths from 1.38 to 4.41 inches. The package also includes 20 test printing papers to get you started right away.
- At the time of its February 2022 investment announcement, Blackstone described Xpressbees as having more than 2,700 service centers and 450 e-commerce customers.
- TechCrunch reported in February 2022 that the company served more than 3,000 cities and towns and handled more than 3 million orders a day, attributing the accompanying data to company data and Bernstein.
- Xpressbees’ undated company profile claims coverage across more than 19,000 pin codes and millions of shipments daily. The profile does not give an as-of date for those figures.
What the company said it would do with the funding
Xpressbees said the proceeds would support its goal of becoming a full-service logistics organization, as well as its next phase of growth, product development and hiring. Those were the company’s stated plans when it announced the 2022 round; the announcement alone does not establish which plans were subsequently completed.
As reported by TechCrunch, founder and chief executive Amitava Saha welcomed the investors, saying their network and operational expertise could help the company pursue new opportunities and expand its footprint. Mukesh Mehta, Blackstone Private Equity senior managing director, described Xpressbees as playing an important role in India’s ecommerce sector. These are the speakers’ views as reported at the time, not independent assessments of the company’s performance.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
- [HIGH TECH LABEL PRINTER] Equipped with a Japanese high tech thermal print head, 203 DPI high printing quality. No ink, No toner, Clean with no mess, economical. Works with both fanfold labels and roll labels. Label size: labels width ranges from 1.57" to 4.1"
- [PRINT WIRELESSLY]The label printer support printing wirelessly. For windows 8 or later and Mac, you can print via Bluetooth. For Android& iOS, you can’t print via Bluetooth on phone, need to download the App "Jadens printer" and print on it.
- [PRINT VIA USB] USB connection works with both Windows (7 and newer) and Mac OS (10.9 and newer) devices. Please long and press the feed button to identify and calibrate label size each time you change labels.
- [WIDE USAGE] JADENS thermal label printer is widely used to print labels from various marketplaces and shipping platforms, such as Endicia, Dazzle, ShipStation, Shipping Easy, Shippo, ShipWorks, Ordoro, eBay, Amazon, Easy, and Shopify. Use JADENS thermal label maker machine to print shipping labels, warehouse labels, market labels, helping increase your productivity. Ideal for your online small business for shipping packages.
- [EASY TO SET UP & RELIABLE AFTER-SALE SERVICE] Set up in one minute. Printer driver, instruction videos and problem shooting videos are provided in U-Disk for better understanding. Offer one year warranty; customer support can be reached out to email, phone, remote control.
Rank #3
- Go Wireless by Bluetooth: Download the "NELKO"app to print via Bluetooth on your Nelko Bluetooth thermal label printer for iOS and Android. Printing shipping labels has never been easier. Windows 7 or later computers can also print via Bluetooth. For Mac users with M1 or M2 CPUs, install the app and connect to the printer via Bluetooth. Note: All devices cannot be directly connected to Bluetooth and need to be used through the app
- Print via USB: For Windows (7 and later), Mac OS,Chrome OS, you can connect the desktop label printer via USB cable. Note that Mac OS only works with USB connection, you can not print via Bluetooth
- Good Helper for Cost Saving: Advanced thermal direct technology is adopted to achieve the printing speed of 150 mm/s, up to 72 sheets 4x6 labels/min. High speed brings high efficiency and helps your business grow faster! 203 DPI makes printing clearer. No ink, no toner, only thermal labels needed. Both fanfold labels and roll labels could be used. Label size: labels width ranges from 1.54" to 4.1"(40-104 mm), such as 4x6, 3x2, 3x1, 2x1 thermal labels and so on
- Strong Platform Compatibility: This bluetooth shipping label printer can work with virtually all platforms, including Amazon, Ebay, Shopify, USPS, UPS, Esty, PayPal, Poshmark,etc.(Note: Please remember to save the logistics label as a PDF on the logistics platform, then upload it to the editor APP "NELKO" for printing
- Suitable for Commercial and Home Use: Printer driver, instruction videos and problem shooting videos are provided in U-Disk for better setting. Nelko PL70E label printer is much smaller than traditional printers and only requires a small piece of space to achieve printing. Very suitable for printing shipping labels, mailing labels, price labels, barcode labels, name tags and all kinds of small category labels
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
