From ShipleeCargo to Shiplee.ai: How We Evolved from Freight to AI-Driven Courier Shipping

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.

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🚛 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.

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🌍 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.

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🔄 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.

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🚀 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

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💡 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.

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🧠 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

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✨ 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

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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

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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

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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

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🧳 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.

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📈 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

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🧩 What We Learned

1. Start where you’re needed, but be willing to change lanes
2. Freight and couriers are different beasts — tech must adapt
3. Remote works if the mission is strong
4. Support and visibility > price in logistics
5. Build for insights, not just execution

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🛣️ 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

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💬 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.