Indkal Bags $36 Mn In Maiden Funding Round To Scale Up Electronics Manufacturing

Consumer electronics startup Indkal Technologies has raised $36 Mn (around INR 300 Cr) in its Series A funding round led by Mauritius-based Aries Opportunities Fund.

The round also saw participation from other strategic investors, the company said, without disclosing their identities.

The Bengaluru-based startup will use the fresh capital to expand its product offerings and strengthen sales and service network. A portion of the proceeds will also be deployed for setting up a research and development hub to support product development infrastructure.

Founded in 2020 by former chief executive of Compaq Television Business, Anand Dubey, Indkal is a trademark licensing company that manufacturers televisions, washing machines, air conditioners and refrigerators for renowned brands such as Acer and Black & Decker among others.

In September last year, the company said to have forayed into the personal audio and wearables space with the launch of Wobble brand. With this move, the company aimed to establish a presence in the higher-valued product categories.

The startup claims to have clocked a gross revenue of INR 800 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), despite being bootstrapped until the latest capital infusion.

The development comes at a time when domestic electronics manufacturing is on the rise in the country, buoyed by the government’s aggressive production-linked incentive (PIL) scheme and growing demand for products like mobile phones and TVs.

Indian consumer electronics manufacturers such as Havells, Dixon Technologies, Voltas and Bluestar are planning to export made-in-India products to developed countries like the US, which were hitherto restricted to Asian, Middle East, and the African markets.

Further, global tech companies like Apple and Google are also shifting their productions away from China amid geopolitical tensions.

Apple now makes one of nine iPhones in India. The tech giant assembled $14 Bn worth of iPhones in India in FY24.

Google has also announced plans to begin producing its Pixel smartphones domestically in the April-June quarter, with the goal of shipping 10 Lakh units by the end of this year.

The government has also announced several policies and incentives to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

In March, the Tata group said it will establish a semiconductor ATMP (a combination of assembly, testing, marking and packaging) worth INR 27K Cr in Assam. 

Prior to that, in February, Tata Electronics (TEPL) received the government’s nod to build India’s first AI-enabled semiconductor fabrication facility in Gujarat’s Dholera.

The Tata group is not the only player in the semiconductor space. The Vedanta Group is also building a chip foundry in Dholera.

Recently, India-based SaaS MNC Zoho also announced its plans to launch a commercial semiconductor manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu.

In early 2023, the US-headquartered Micron Technology said it would build an INR 22K Cr semiconductor testing and packaging plant in Sanand, Gujarat.