Logistics provider Apollo LogiSolutions, otherwise known as ALS, is in its final stages of discussion with strategic and financial investors to close a US$100 to US$120 million funding round.

According to the president of Apollo LogiSolutions, PSS Prasad, the investment which is backed by investment banking services provider Edelweiss, will be used to fund the company’s expansion plans,

As part of the company’s vertical integration, Apollo LogiSolutions is planning to invest about Rs150 to Rs200 crore in setting up warehouses in the country, increasing its current warehouse space of 500,000 square feet to 5 million square feet in three years, in addition to a one million square feet outside India.

This expansion project is put into plan as to take advantage of the goods and services tax (GST) in the country. To start with, Apollo will set up three warehouses — one in Gujarat, and another on the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border, in which both lands has already been purchased. While the location for the third warehouse is said to be in the northern part of the country.

“The company has a target of increasing its revenues to around Rs 3,000 crore by 2020 from about Rs 900 crore now, on the back of organic and inorganic growth, which is expanding sales and profits, as well as mergers and acquisitions,” PSS Prasad further adds.

Four years ago, Apollo Logisolutions’revenues were around Rs70 crore in which joint ventures have accounted for around 50 percent of the total revenue. By 2020, this is expected to increase to around 60 percent.

At the same time, the company is also keen on inorganic growth and has also set aside about Rs 200 crore for acquiring companies in the same space.

In six months, the company hopes to close two deals, one regarding a 3PL space (third-party logistics) in India, and another in Africa regarding freight forwarding. The company is also looking to get into non-petroleum liquid bulk transportation by rail.

According to Apollo, the company will not consider going for an initial public offering in the next three years. Currently, 20 percent of the company’s revenues comes from the automobile and renewable segments, another 20 percent is derivded from terminal operations.

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media

Delhi-based fitness startup Fitnapp has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Noida-based SD Group, a venture firm which is involved in real estate, education and international trading.

Following this fundraising, SD Group’s Sanjay K Baliase will join Fitnapp as a Director whereby he commented, “We, with our team of IIM and IIT alumni, will make Fitnapp a holistic platform to provide 360-degree services in health, beauty, and fitness.”

“This includes services like dieticians, physiotherapists, trainers at home, fitness expert to provide tailor-made fitness solutions to users and Fitnapp-approved fitness centers’ to provide exclusive services to the users, in addition to providing access to healthcare foods, supplements, gadgets, and equipment are also available on platform,” He further added.

Founded in 2015 by Akshay Jhinga, Fitnapp is a mobile marketplace that enables users to discover and purchase fitness services from gyms and fitness centers around them. Besides, it also provides a platform for fitness products like supplements, types of equipment, and gadgets such as fitness band.

The startup sets out with the aim to transform people’s workout by providing them access to numerous fitness activities, under one fitness membership, across a range of cities. Additionally, Fitnapp has also created its own niche in the fitness market through its innovative approach and services which helped it to get into strategic alliances with the brands like Uber, Ola, Shopclues, Mobikwik, and Zomato etc. which offers benefits to clients across different company verticals.

“As of today, we have partnered with over 1,500 gyms and fitness studios in Delhi-NCR. The platform has a monthly subscription plan that suits all range of pocket sizes, which offers the users a single window for all its partner gyms, fitness studios, and activity centers. We currently have a team of 20. The platform projects of acquiring 100,000 users in 12 months,” said Akshay.

With the fresh funding, the Delhi-based startup plans to use the capital for online expansion, increasing the number of associations, partners, and marketing. In the next year, the company also plans to infuse funds into technology and roll out new highly personalized fitness management tools for users.

On top of that, the fund will also be used to expand its assistance-oriented service segment that requires customisation and enhancement for each individual user as well as scale up its operation and expand into new geographical footprints.

“We are on track getting a good response from the app users and will continue to focus on building a profitable and sustainable business in the long term for us and our partners,” Akshay further adds.

At present, Fitnapp services are currently available as an app on the Google Play Store and App Store.

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media

LeSports, the sports unit of cash-strapped Chinese Internet and technology conglomerate LeEco, is amid the process of raising RMB3 billion (about US$439 million) from an unnamed investor to support future growth.

Prior to this, LeEco has raised RMB15.04 billion (about US$2.18 billion) from Sun Hongbin, the chairman of Chinese property developer Sunac China Holdings earlier this week.

Following this deal, Sun Hongbin said that, “LeSports will pare back on sports broadcasting rights deals and focus on its core video product.”

Since March 2014, LeSports has become independent from LeTV.com and began distributing its businesses across the entire sports industry, combining events operations, streaming content, and smart devices with internet services.

Its business model revolves across broadcasting sporting events globally, The company has partnered with big sporting events and relevant players in the industry, broadcasting over 300 sporting events in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, in accordance with their license application.

These sporting events include a two-year exclusive media rights for the Chinese Super League (CSL), a three-year in-depth strategic partnership with Major League Baseball in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as an exclusive live broadcasting rights for the English Premier League in Hong Kong from 2016 to 2019 and other major titles.

However, LeSports has entered into these broadcasting right agreements of English Premier League, the NBA, the Chinese Super League and ATP at an unexpectedly high price. In some cases, the media company has paid ten times more than its previous contracts.

Commenting on this, Sun Hongbin said that, “Costly broadcasting rights is an area where LeSports will significantly reduce future spending.”

Founded in 2014, LeSports last raised RMB8 billion (about US$1.2 billion) in March 2016 from HNA Group, Chinese celebrity investors Sun Honglei, Jia Nailiang and Liu Tao. Previously, the unit raised RMB800 million (US$122.9 million) in 2015 led by Dalian Wanda Group, with Yunfeng Capital and seven other venture capital firms and individual investors.

LeSports began paring back its businesses significantly at the end of 2016, after a year of rapid expansion and amid a lack of capital that is affecting its parent company, LeEco.

The company plans to reduce 20% of its current 1,000 employee workforce to focus on media content and Internet platforms while cutting back on smart devices and sports events management.

The latest proceeds from the new round will be used to help the company ease cash shortage and support growth.

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media