Meet Manisha Raisinghani whose dream becomes reality

Manisha Raisinghani is the co-founder and CTO of LogiNext. LogiNext helps software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies manage and optimize logistics and field service operations. Under her technical guidance, the company has conquered various global markets with superior products that work around self-learning algorithms. 

They have created key products that enable LogiNext to consistently and successfully optimize over 10 million shipments per day across Asia, MENA countries, Europe, and the Americas. Manisha holds a master's degree in Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University. She then worked with Warner Bros on the data analytics team for iTunes. She also worked with IBM in the US before deciding to start LogiNext.

Tech entrepreneur Manisha Raisinghani started her logistics optimization company LogiNext in 2014 with Dhruv Sanghvi, her classmate from Carnegie Mellon University. Her startup, Loginext Solutions, provides SaaS solutions that improve logistics planning and delivery route optimization. Manisha mostly works out of Mumbai, while her co-founder and CEO of Loginext, Dhruv Shanghvi, works from the US. 

In just four years, it has become one of the fastest-growing tech firms in the world (according to the Financial Times, statistics portal Statista, and IBM) with 200 customers in 10 countries. The company's CTO, 33-year-old Raisinghani believes that work-life balance is irrelevant when work is a goal, and a dream is a reality. After that, it becomes more of a work-life confluence.

LogiNext is backed by Alibaba-funded Paytm and Indian Angel Network; It has raised over $10 million in investments to date. The company has grown exponentially in a short span of time and is poised to grow by over 300% by the end of 2020.

At the age of 26, Manisha Raisinghani decided to change the way logistics was one of the most unorganized industries in India. Manisha holds a Master's degree in Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Mumbai. LogiNext was started in 2014 before she was working for IBM and her co-founder Dhruvil Sanghvi was working for Deloitte. They both worked for clients in logistics and saw how disruption had come in this area. 

Which came with the transformation of technology in many industries, but logistics was one area that was resisting change, especially when consumer attitudes were changing rapidly with the entry of Uber, Amazon and their ilk. Both of them decided to do something better in this field. They quit their jobs in the US and moved back to India and started coding on a product that would help automate the logistics industry. The two men had a great vision for the job, and are very enthusiastic about this decision.

Manisha Raisinghani's apartment in Mumbai was her office for a few months and she initially raised funds from IAN (Indian Angel Network). With the boom in e-commerce, food, grocery, delivery and laundry services, etc., they made tremendous improvements such as customizing routes, calculating ETA, providing better customer experience, etc.

Their SaaS product which is currently being used by over 100 enterprise customers worldwide, they have a team of around 200 members and have raised $49 million in funding from companies like Tiger Global, Steadview Capital, and Alibaba Group. The recent Covid outbreak has encouraged a digital revolution in a big way in the logistics space and they are growing at a rapid pace to help better customer service to their customers.

LogiNext Mile is their flagship product and is used by many industries such as courier and parcel, QSR chains, retail e-commerce, and basically any enterprise that does last-mile delivery. They have a SaaS pricing model that gives customers a lot of flexibility and rapid product deployment.

In SaaS, there are two types of models – SMB and Enterprise. Initially, LogiNext was serving all their customers through both. But with time, Manisha realized that her product was more suitable for enterprises. Customizing and automating at scale is their mantra and large enterprises have been able to make the most of their product. Once they realized their strengths, they created playbooks for each department of their team, which are tweaked once in a while, but this documentation gives great clarity internally as to where the company is and where it is going.

Regarding the competition, there are two categories in front of them. One is the new-age technology companies and the other is the incumbents like Oracle and SAP. Earlier, when their product was limited, it was difficult to compete with bigger competitors, but with time their product matured. LogiNext is headquartered in the US with offices in Dubai, Singapore, and Malaysia. This enterprise helps in meeting the requirements of the customers.

Manisha Raisinghani believes that if one wants to compete with the likes of new-age technology companies, it is a no-brainer to go higher. This is where the world has gone and for anyone who wants to stay ahead of the game, keeping up with change is the only way to go.

Loginext has women leading departments like Marketing, QA (Quality Assessment), Customer Relations etc. Manisha is a supporter of women's entrepreneurship. She works with many independent women entrepreneurs who connect with her on LinkedIn. She gives him time on weekends. In addition, she works with some incubators and initiatives such as She Leads Tech where she has delivered some conferences for early-stage women entrepreneurs.

This journey has earned Manisha Raisinghani several awards – including NetApps Innovative Tech Company of the Year, Aegis Innovation in Big Data, CIO Choice Award for Best Supply Chain Logistics Cloud Solution, Named Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 in 2018. But for Manisha, her biggest achievement is making her family proud of her.

Times have changed, but progress is still slow. You can face obstacles, but you can't be trapped by their doors; Especially wrong stereotypes. There will always be people who dismiss efforts on the basis of gender, but you must learn to rise above it. Remember, once you achieve success, all obstacles become irrelevant. And to be successful, you have to be true to yourself. Never ever change yourself to become fit according to the needs of society. Society will eventually change itself for you.