Frigate Raises Funding To Make Manufacturing Easy For Industrial OEMs

B2B cloud manufacturing startup Frigate has raised $1.5 Mn as part of its seed funding round led by Arali Ventures. The round also saw participation from institutional investors such as Capital A, Java Capital, as well as other strategic angel investors. 

The startup will use the capital to further scale up its digital manufacturing ecosystem to cater to clients globally. The funds will also enable Frigate to strengthen its teams in India and globally across multiple verticals.

Founded in 2021 by brothers Tamizhinian Vasanthan and Iniyavan Vasanthan along with Karthikeyan Prakash and Chandrasekar C, Frigate is a B2B cloud platform that offers a suite of manufacturing services to medium and large-scale companies globally. In simple words, it helps businesses turn their digital designs into physical products without worrying about delays or finding vendors.

It caters to clients in areas such as new energy and power, electric vehicles, infrastructure and auto industries. Frigate also claims to have so far served more than 200 MSMEs, and has manufactured more than 1 Lakh parts since its inception. 

The Tiruchirapalli-based startup deploys AI-based tech platform to match demand with supply to streamline the entire process from sales to fulfilment. It claims to partner with 200 manufacturing partners spread across Tier-II cities such as Coimbatore, Hosur and Jamnagar to utilise their spare capacity to cater to the demand.

Commenting on the development, Frigate cofounder and chief executive officer (CEO) Tamizhinian Vasanthan said, “On the demand side, Frigate provides manufacturing-as-a-service to global customers, offering globally competitive pricing, better lead time, and best in class manufacturing with quality… Frigate is helping overseas customers who are looking at China+1 policy to set up a manufacturing base in India.”

The fundraise comes more than a year after the startup raised $185K as part of its pre-seed round in April last year.

Frigate competes with the likes of homegrown players such as unicorn Zetwerk, Nexprt, Groyyo and CapGrid in the burgeoning B2B cloud manufacturing space. 

Per a report, the global cloud manufacturing space is projected to grow to a market size of $206 Bn by 2031. While India numbers are scarce, the country is expected to see renewed interest from companies globally as they look for cheaper and effective alternatives amid the ongoing political row between the US and China. 

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