SINGAPORE (April 19): The Abraaj Group (Abraaj) has led a US$30 million ($40.5 million) round of fundraising for Ninja Logistics, a so-called last-mile logistics provider that runs the Ninja Van service operating in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Besides Abraaj, other investors include B Capital Group and Y J Capital. Existing shareholders of Ninja include Monk’s Hill Ventures.

With this fresh funding, Ninja plans to expand into new markets such as Thailand and Vietnam and the Philippines by end of this year. The company also plans to improve its customer service operations.

Ninja claims to support 3,000 different clients, including major e-commerce companies, delivering some 15,000 parcels a day.

Abraaj, the lead investor, is no stranger to investing in logistics.  Earlier investments include Urbano, a leading courier and light logistics solutions company present in Peru, Ecuador and El Salvador.

The fund, founded by Pakistan-born Arif Naqvi, has a warchest of US$9.5 billion. It focuses on emerging markets from Africa to the Middle East.

Omar Lodhi, Partner and Head of Asia for The Abraaj Group, observes that the Southeast Asia e-commerce sector is estimated to double in the next four years, with total e-commerce parcel delivery estimated to grow in line with the sector.

“Last-mile logistics, which is the backbone of e-commerce, remains a bottleneck, and Ninja Van is well-positioned to enhance the e-commerce experience for customers and businesses,” he says.

Chang Wen Lai, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ninja Van, notes that Abraaj’s investment will give Ninja Van the resources to expand beyond the Tier One cities of Southeast Asia, and build an ecosystem “aggressively” and offer “a better experience” than incumbents and smaller competitors.