E-commerce-focused logistics solutions provider Ecom Express has raked in $36 million from CDC, a development finance institution wholly owned by the UK government.
The fresh capital has come after a gap of 27 months for the Gurugram-based firm which had last raised around $30 million in September 2017 from Warburg Pincus.
With this capital infusion, Ecom Express will expand its delivery services to rural areas while a significant portion of the fund will be deployed towards enhancing technology, advancing parcel sortation systems, strengthening network reliability and infrastructure.
The company will leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science to improve its delivery system across India. Besides, the company will also increase its employee base by 1.4X to 47,000 over the next 12-24 months, cited an ET report.
A provider of e-commerce related services such as cash-on-delivery, reverse logistics, dropship service and same-day delivery; the seven-year-old startup currently operates in more than 2,400 cities and has a presence in over 26,000 pin codes.
Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm, Infibeam and other marquee e-commerce companies have been leveraging Ecom Express’s services for their delivery needs.
For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019, Ecom Express reported a 76% jump in total revenue to Rs 1,018.45 crore. The income was recorded at Rs 578.75 crore in FY18. The company has reduced its net loss by 75% to Rs 129.60 crore in FY19.
Its close rival eKart has recorded a 78% hike in revenue to Rs 4,422.2 crore in FY 19 from Rs 2,488.7 crore in FY18. Like Ecom, eKart also controlled its losses – by 41% to Rs 293.6 crore in FY19.
Apart from the Flipkart-owned delivery company, Ecom Express competes with Delhivery, Xpressbees, Shadowfax and a few others in this space.
