Locofast is a New Delhi-based Indian B2B platform that connects fabric mills and suppliers with fashion brands and buying houses for textile sourcing.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what Locofast does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

Locofast in Brief

• What it is: Locofast is an Indian B2B textile and fabric sourcing marketplace company based in New Delhi.
• Who it serves: businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers.
• Runs a platform linking textile vendors and suppliers with fashion brands and buying houses.
• Adds dyeing, printing and logistics services around sourcing, with quality checks before dispatch.
• Reported over 500 suppliers and 5,000+ orders; worked with 700+ brands including supply chain partners for Zara, H&M, TJX, Cotton:On and Primark (2022).
• Funding: $15 million equity (Series A), plus undisclosed debt; one database claims $17 million including a $2 million seed (uncorroborated).

Locofast Quick Facts

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is Locofast?

Locofast operates in the B2B textile and fabric sourcing marketplace space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to Locofast.

• Runs a platform linking textile vendors and suppliers with fashion brands and buying houses.
• Adds dyeing, printing and logistics services around sourcing, with quality checks before dispatch.
• Reported over 500 suppliers and 5,000+ orders; worked with 700+ brands including supply chain partners for Zara, H&M, TJX, Cotton:On and Primark (2022).

The Origin Story of Locofast

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

• Founders: Deepak Wadhwa, Mohit Piplani.
• Founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneurs Deepak Wadhwa (CEO) and Mohit Piplani.
• Aims to modernise a fragmented textile industry slow in technology adoption.
• Some aggregator pages wrongly describe it as a last-mile delivery company.

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the B2B textile and fabric sourcing marketplace sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

• 2019: Founded.
• February 2022: $15 million Series A announced (reported March 2022).
• 2022: Planned expansion to 15+ Indian cities and three new product categories.
• March 2024: Founder Deepak Wadhwa held 29.6% and founders collectively 43.4%.
• FY24: Revenue about Rs 75.0 crore.
• FY25: Revenue about Rs 87.1 crore, net loss about Rs 2.4 crore.

Locofast Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

• February 2022: $15 million Series A co-led by Stellaris Venture Partners and Chiratae Ventures with Axilor Ventures.
• Angels: Suhail Sameer, Amit Lakhotia, Nitin Gupta and others.
• Debt: from Stride Ventures and BlackSoil Capital (amount undisclosed).
• Proceeds earmarked for technology, city expansion, new categories and hiring.

How Does Locofast Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

• Online marketplace aggregating higher-quality mills and suppliers for fabric orders.
• Earns on orders and value-added services such as dyeing, printing and logistics; commission terms not disclosed.

The Numbers: Locofast Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

• FY24: revenue about Rs 75.0 crore.
• FY25: revenue about Rs 87.1 crore (up 16.2%), net loss about Rs 2.4 crore, estimated EBITDA loss about Rs 1.0 crore, net margin about -2.7%.

Market Opportunity for Locofast

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are rising digital adoption, cloud and mobile penetration, growing enterprise technology spending, government digitisation programmes and a deep pool of engineering talent. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

• Fragmented Indian textile supply chain with large demand from export brands and buying houses.

Technology and Product at Locofast

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.

• Platform for sourcing, ordering and quality checks across suppliers.

Team and Culture at Locofast

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

• Deepak Wadhwa (founder and CEO) and Mohit Piplani (co-founder).
• Employee count reported at 103 to 140 depending on section.

Locofast Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Risks and Challenges for Locofast

• Still loss-making though narrow.
• No funding disclosed since 2022.
• Growth of 16% in FY25 is moderate for a venture-backed company.
• Dependence on supplier quality and export demand.
• Competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth.
• Funding risk: technology businesses often burn cash before reaching profit and depend on investor appetite.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Locofast Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• Narrow net loss (-2.7% margin) suggests a path to breakeven.
• Expansion to new cities and categories was planned with 2022 funds.
• Key indicators: recurring revenue, customer retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and runway.
• Funding position: Whether Locofast can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Industry Context: Where Locofast Fits

India's technology startup ecosystem is one of the largest in the world, supported by cheap data, a large base of smartphone users, digital public infrastructure and a deep engineering talent pool. Companies now build for education, software, mobility, logistics, agriculture, defence, media and more, selling both to Indian customers and abroad.

Durable technology companies usually combine a clear customer problem with repeatable distribution and disciplined unit economics. Growth funded only by spending tends to fade, while products that customers keep using and paying for build compounding advantages.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for Locofast

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for Locofast.

Bull case

• A large and growing base of digital users and businesses expands the addressable market.
• Recurring revenue and strong retention can compound growth.
• Selling into global markets widens the opportunity beyond India.

Bear case

• Heavy competition can compress pricing and margins.
• Dependence on external funding can force painful cost cuts.
• Regulation or platform changes can disrupt a product quickly.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from Locofast

Studying a company in the B2B textile and fabric sourcing marketplace space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about Locofast.

• Solving a clear, frequent customer problem matters more than adding features.
• Retention and repeat usage are better health signals than sign-ups.
• Disciplined spending extends runway and keeps options open when funding tightens.
• Distribution, not just product quality, decides who wins in crowded markets.
• Building trust through data protection and reliability is part of the product.

How to Evaluate Locofast as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can Locofast name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
• Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
• Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
• Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
• Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
• Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
• Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
• Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

Locofast is part of India’s growing B2B textile and fabric sourcing marketplace ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

• Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
• Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
• Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

Locofast FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Locofast?

Locofast is a New Delhi-based Indian B2B platform that connects fabric mills and suppliers with fashion brands and buying houses for textile sourcing. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded Locofast?

Locofast was founded by Deepak Wadhwa, Mohit Piplani, and the company reports a founding year of 2019.

How much funding has Locofast raised?

$15 million equity (Series A), plus undisclosed debt; one database claims $17 million including a $2 million seed (uncorroborated). Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does Locofast make money?

Locofast earns revenue from its B2B textile and fabric sourcing marketplace products and services sold to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of Locofast?

Reported rivals include Merchant Bay. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for Locofast?

Main risks include competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules. This is educational content, not investment advice.

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Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.