UK's CDC Group invests $36 mn in Warburg Pincus-backed Ecom Express

Ecom Express offers express delivery to the e-commerce industry; claims its network reaches 90% of India's population

CDC Group, the UK-based development finance institution and impact investor in South Asia and Africa, today announced that it has closed a $36 million equity investment in Warburg Pincus-backed Ecom Express, a fast-growing, tech-enabled logistics company. 

Ecom Express offers express delivery services to the e-commerce industry and claims its network reaches 90 per cent of India’s population, with more than 85 per cent of its presence in Tier-2, 3 and 4 cities and hinterlands. The new investment will help support the development of smaller, harder-to-reach towns as they are brought into the e-commerce fold. 

In addition to network expansion and augmentation, CDC’s equity injection enables Ecom Express to significantly accelerate job creation from 32,000 employees to 47,000 within the next one or two years. This will be complemented by a distinct focus on increasing the number of employed women in the workforce. 

CDC will work with Ecom Express to transition 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: “In Ecom Express, we have a partner company that recognises the vital importance of creating a genuinely sustainable and gender inclusive business. I am delighted that, through our expertise in impact investing in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, we will be adding value far beyond our capital contribution. We are 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”. 

T A Krishnan, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ecom Express said, “The infusion of capital will help us further expand our 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, and finally, make development impact with job creation, environmentally responsible initiatives and gender diversity.”