Indian end-to-end e-commerce logistics solution provider Ecom Express has acquired a majority stake in Bangladeshi home delivery service provider Paperfly, worth around Tk 100 crore.

Paperfly aims to utilise the fund to reduce delivery time by 24 hours. Now it takes a maximum of five days.

"We want to ensure home delivery service in the country within 48 to 72 hours," Razibul Islam, co-founder and chief operations officer, told The Daily Star yesterday.

"If the time can be reduced by one day then normally there would be a rise of around 20 per cent in orders. To do so, we have to increase our employees and [delivery] points," he said.

The company currently makes use of 100 delivery points and plans to grow to 350 by next June, Islam added.

With over 1,000 own employees at the union level and beyond, the company founded in 2016 describes itself as Bangladesh's first homegrown technology-enabled logistics service provider.

Its ambition echoes Ecom Express, which is said to have taken its first steps abroad on utilising e-commerce logistics to reach almost 1 million people daily through 2,900 delivery points across India.

Incorporated in 2012, Ecom Express has a presence in all 29 states of India.

"Bangladesh's logistics industry must evolve in many folds to keep up with modern purchase behaviours from an increasingly digitised society," said Shahriar Hasan, founder and CEO of Paperfly.

"We want to lead that evolution in both e-commerce and traditional logistics," he added.

"There is a lot to be done in terms of cost efficiency and customer service, backed up by tech play," said Rahath Ahmed, its co-founder and chief marketing officer.

He said their aim was to establish the largest network of connected logistics, able to meet the needs of any enterprise, customers or e-commerce.

"The partnership will provide us the exposure towards faster tech adaptation, which Ecom Express has already carried out in their market," said Shamsuddin Ahmed, its co-founder and chief technology officer.

"We look forward to providing superior customer experiences across its supply value chain by integrating e-commerce, logistics and technology ecosystem," said TA Krishnan, CEO and co-founder of Ecom Express.