What started with truckloads turned into terabytes of data.
This is the journey of how ShipleeCargo, a freight logistics startup, transformed into Shiplee.ai, a full-stack courier and logistics intelligence platform — built by a distributed remote team across India.
🚛 The Origin: Solving Freight Chaos with ShipleeCargo
In early 2023, we launched ShipleeCargo to bring order to B2B shipping chaos.
We handled:
- Less-than-Truckload (LTL) freight
- Intercity B2B movement
- SME logistics between industrial hubs (Delhi, Bhiwandi, Bangalore)
Our core customers were:
- Traders & wholesalers
- Bulk suppliers
- B2B aggregators
They needed trucks, routes, and clarity. We gave them that.
But it was heavy. Manual. People-driven. And it didn’t scale the way we hoped.
🌍 Operating in the Real World: Trucks, Brokers & Broken SOPs
In B2B freight:
- Delays were common.
- Route planning was paper-based.
- Payments were manual.
- Tracking was… well, often a phone call to the driver.
We built an internal system for:
- Booking LTL slots
- Assigning vehicles
- Pincode zoning for route efficiency
- Bulk invoicing & shipment manifests
This was ShipleeCargo 1.0 — a backend system that worked, but didn’t yet scale.
🔄 Shift in Demand: Sellers, Parcels & a New Opportunity
Then something changed.
As we operated cargo for businesses, we saw emerging demand from a different segment — online sellers.
They weren’t asking for trucks.
They were asking for:
- Courier integration
- Delivery tracking
- COD remittance
- Help with high RTO rates
- Real-time support
We realized: India’s sellers were scaling, but their shipping was broken.
So we did something bold.
We pivoted.
🚀 The Pivot: From Freight Tech to Courier Intelligence
Enter Shiplee.ai — a smart, AI-first courier logistics platform built for the modern Indian seller.
From the ground up, Shiplee.ai was different:
| ShipleeCargo | Shiplee.ai |
|---|---|
| B2B LTL shipments | D2C courier parcel shipping |
| Manual broker networks | Courier APIs (Delhivery, XpressBees, etc.) |
| Transport SOPs | Tech workflows + automation |
| City-to-city movement | Nationwide + hyperlocal |
| Invoice and truck tracking | Real-time AWB tracking, RTO intelligence |
💡 Why We Knew It Would Work
We took our experience in:
- Zone-based pricing
- Dispatching
- Shipment verification
- Route optimization
…and applied it to a new, parcel-sized problem.
🧠 Building Shiplee.ai: With a Remote Team, Across India
One of the proudest parts of our journey?
We didn’t build this from a single HQ.
We built Shiplee.ai remotely — with a lean but fierce team from:
- Lucknow (Core PHP + Ops Logic)
- Bangalore (AI & Predictive Modeling)
- Kolkata (UI/UX Design)
- Delhi (Sales & Support)
- Indore & Pune (Courier API Integrations)
We coordinated on WhatsApp, GitHub, and daily Zoom calls.
Shiplee.ai was born in homes, cafés, bedrooms, and coworking spaces — not a traditional office.
This remote flexibility helped us:
- Move fast
- Cut costs
- Hire passionate contributors from anywhere
✨ Key Features That Made the Leap Possible
1. Courier Aggregation Layer
Plug into:
- XpressBees
- DTDC
- Bluedart
- Delhivery
- Ecom Express
- Ekart
- Shadowfax
- Amazon Easyship
With smart courier selection based on:
- Cheapest
- Fastest air
- Custom priorities
2. Real-Time AWB Tracking + NDR Handling
We moved from cron-based checks to webhook-based courier tracking, enabling:
- Real-time status updates
- Automated NDR case resolution
- Attempt count tracking
- SMS/WhatsApp notifications for reattempts
3. RTO Prediction Engine (ShipleeAI)
Using ML models trained on millions of past deliveries:
- Mobile number reputation
- Address cleanliness
- Courier performance by pincode
- Past delivery outcomes
Each order gets a risk score, and risky orders can trigger:
- Address confirmation calls
- Prepaid-only nudges
- Delivery partner filtering
4. Unified Dashboard for Sellers
One panel. All their orders.
Sellers can:
- Track
- Download invoices
- View COD remittance timelines
- Escalate NDR issues
- Analyze courier performance
🧳 Bonus Launch: Luggage & Personal Transport
In early 2024, we rolled out “Luggage Transport”, a consumer-first offering.
For:
- Students shifting cities
- Employees relocating
- Families sending personal parcels
We simplified intercity transport for bags, boxes, and personal goods:
- Pickup from doorstep
- Air and surface options
- Transparent rates
- Tracking and insurance
This opened a new B2C vertical and introduced new traffic into our platform.
📈 Results: From Truck Loads to Millions of Packets
In numbers:
- Over 10,000 sellers on the platform
- 4M+ AWBs tracked
- 25% RTO rate reduction
- COD remittance data for 100k+ orders/month
- Real-time support ticket system integration
🧩 What We Learned
- Start where you’re needed, but be willing to change lanes
- Freight and couriers are different beasts — tech must adapt
- Remote works if the mission is strong
- Support and visibility > price in logistics
- Build for insights, not just execution
🛣️ What’s Next?
- Launching the Shiplee Seller App (Android + iOS)
- Extending same-day delivery with local aggregators
- Enabling hyperlocal-to-national courier blending
- Reimagining freight with the learnings from parcels
💬 Final Thoughts
ShipleeCargo taught us operations.
Shiplee.ai taught us scale.
But more importantly, it showed us that Indian businesses — big or small — need better shipping infrastructure, not just vendors.
We’re just getting started.
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