Delivery Ninja And His Tales

Ninja Van’s Co-founder on his mission to redefine the industry by enabling next-day door-to-door deliveries for e-commerce firms and customers.

- Pooja Singh

While studying at Singapore Management University, Lai Chang Wen started Marcella, a made-to-measure menswear brand. Wen, a finance graduate then, had zero interest in fashion. He started Marcella because he couldn’t find a men’s shirt that fit him well. The business quickly ran into problems with unreliable courier services. Deliveries were either delayed or lost. So, once again, the Singaporean set his mind to fixing the nub of his frustration - by setting up logistics company Ninja Van in 2014 at the age of 27 with two cofounders.

Today, Ninja Van partners with all the major players, including Lazada and Shopee. It also has heavy-hitting investors, including B Capital Group, a venture capital firm whose founding partner is Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. It also recently announced a strategic partnership with Grab. The terms of the Grab deal weren’t disclosed, but in previous rounds, it raised a total of US$ 117.5 million from investors including international parcel delivery group DPD.

In an interview, Chang Wen talks about his journey, hacks and the Grab deal. Edited excerpts:

You didn’t have much experience in logistics before starting Ninja Van. What prompted you to start?