CDC Pumps $36 Mn In Ecom Express To Aid Expnasion

Delhi-based logistics solution provider Ecom Express, on Tuesday (December 10), has announced that it has raised $36 Mn (INR 255 Cr) in fresh equity funding from the UK’s development finance institution, CDC Group.

TA Krishnan, chief executive of Ecom Express reportedly said that the fresh funds will be used to further expand its delivery footprint in connecting towns and rural centres across the country. “Besides expanding reach, the company plans to invest in technology, deploy advanced parcel sortation systems, strengthen network reliability and infrastructure,” he added.

Prior to this round, Ecom Express has raised over $50 Mn from investors such as Warburg Pincus, etc.

Founded in 2012 by TA Krishnan, Manju Dhawan, K Satyanarayana and Sanjeev Saxena, Ecom Express provides end-to-end logistics solutions. It facilitates first-mile pickup, processing, network optimisation and last-mile delivery. It operates in over 2,400 towns across more than 25,000 PIN-codes in India.

The company is looking to significantly increase its employee base of over 32K employees to 47K in the next two years. CDC said that, as part of the initiatives, it will work with Ecom Express to transit a proportion of its distribution fleet to electric vehicles and sponsor a road safety programme for its drivers and fleet operators.

Srini Nagarajan, managing director and head of Asia, CDC, said the company is “dedicated to responsibly investing our capital in India, with over $1.7Bn currently committed to local businesses. We have the same amount again to invest over the next few years and look forward to working with many more businesses that are as environmentally and socially conscious as Ecom Express.”

In FY19, Ecom Express saw a 76% increase in its revenue reaching INR 1018.45 Cr, with losses reduced to INR 129.60 Cr from INR 526.7 Cr in FY18.

According to MarketsandMarkets, in 2018, the global logistics market was valued at $4,730 Bn, and is projected to reach a value of $6,300 Bn by 2024. Also, the global logistics automation market accounted for $42.8 Bn in 2017 and is expected to reach $126.53 Bn by 2020.

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