Warburg Pincus invests $120m in India's Ecom Express
Ecom Express, an Indian e-commerce logistics startup, has raised INR8.5 billion ($120 million) from Warburg Pincus.
The company said in a release that it will use the new funding to expand its delivery footprint in the country's rural areas, along with smaller towns. It will also improve its parcel sorting systems and build up its network reliability and infrastructure.
Founded in 2012, Ecom Express provides last-mile delivery services for online vendors. The company operates 320 delivery centers in 210 cities across India, and expects to deliver more than 50 million packages this year.
This funding round is one of the largest of several investments this year in India's third-party logistics (3PL) sector. Delhivery raised $85 million from Tiger Global and existing investors, and Tata Capital committed $39 million to TVS Logistics to support its acquisition of Drive India Enterprise Solutions (DIESL). Ecom Express itself raised $17 million from Peepul Capital in 2014.
The growth of 3PL start-ups has been fuelled by the expansion of India's e-commerce sector in general. While the likes of Flipkart and Snapdeal have established their own logistics networks, they often use start-ups such as Delhivery and Ecom Express for last-mile services. 3PL providers can also offer a more comprehensive service to smaller companies that cannot afford to operate their own delivery infrastructure.
More on South Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.