According to reports, Rivigo held talks with ecommerce marketplace Flipkart, and omnichannel baby products retailer FirstCry for a potential sale.

The logistics tech unicorn has struggled to raise fresh funds as investors turn skittish due to the ongoing economic slowdown.

The discussions around Rivigo’s acquisition are still preliminary and may or may not result in a deal. Rivigo had evaluated merging its operations with Flipkart's logistics arm e-Kart, and FirstCry's e-commerce focussed logistics unicorn Xpressbees.

As per reports, A few months ago, the company’s board decided that it should look for potential buyers and that staying independent wasn't an option anymore. The company is not in great health, it has tweaked its business model in the past from being an aggregator to being asset heavy and owning trucks to now again being asset light. Its fleet size reduced significantly from 3,000.

Backed by venture fund Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners), private equity major Warburg Pincus, among others, the Gurugram-based logistics firm has faced headwinds over the past few years.

Reports suggest that the company has approached e-commerce players with a logistics vertical. It’s going to be a good fit for Rivigo but there is no price ascribed to the deal.

Deepak Garg, cofounder and chief executive officer Rivigo says, “We are in advanced conversations with multiple financial and strategic investors to raise capital.”

Garg says, “The last couple of years were turbulent and ‘painful’ as it faced attrition even as its revenue dropped. Rivigo, which operated in a relay trucking model, pivoted to relay-as-a-service model during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time the pivot, a tech jargon signifying a change in business model, made the company more sustainable and conducive to scaling. Rivigo was looking to raise $50-$100 million and wanted to go public by 2024.”

After the pivot, the company’s revenue dropped to less than Rs. 1,000 crore and in May the logistics firm was operating at a revenue run rate of about Rs. 700-800 crore. Losses had reduced significantly as it turned asset light.