Data centre and cloud solutions provider ESDS Software Solutions plans to double its data centre footprint within the next two years. It currently has data centres in four locations and want to expand it to eight locations.
The company, which provides end to end digital transformation solutions to both government and private enterprises, will establish new data centres in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai and add another near its existing facility in Mumbai. ESDS currently operates data centres in Mumbai, Nashik, Bengaluru and Mohali.
“We will be adding four more data centres over the next two years, requiring an investment of around ₹600 crore. Half of this will be funded through internal accruals, and the other half through a PE fundraise,” said Piyush Somani, chairman and managing director of ESDS Software Solutions.
The private equity (PE) backing for ESDS comes from Global Environment Fund (GEF Capital). “We will be offloading approximately 6-7% stake for the ₹300 crore fundraise,” Somani said.
In a bid to enhance sustainability at the upcoming data centres, ESDS is in discussions with green energy companies. Somani said that the new facilities will utilise 15-20 megawatts of green power.
In addition to expanding its data centre network, ESDS is focusing on its autonomous cloud product to drive its growth. Expected to launch by the end of this calendar year, the product aims to automate the planning and execution of digital transformation tasks for companies. Earlier, the company announced plans to hire 300 AI and ML engineers in India for this product.
However, Somani stated that following this recruitment drive, ESDS will focus on maintaining a workforce of 1,200-1,400 employees in order to drive margins. “We are putting automation in place where we can continue the business with our current workforce and start driving operating leverage to drive margins,” he added.
ESDS reported a revenue of ₹201 crore in FY23, with the figure rising to approximately ₹280 crore in FY24. “We are witnessing an increase in the size of deals year-on-year, contributing to our growth momentum,” Somani said.
While private enterprises have been adopting ESDS’s end-to-end digital transformation services, Somani said the role of the central government in pushing digitalisation initiatives across departments has helped the company to grow its topline.
“Compared to the central government, the states have been slower in adopting digitalisation projects. As a result, the majority of our government contracts currently come from central government initiatives,” Somani added.
