Info Edge Ventures Backs B2B Marketplace Yojak

Gurugram based B2B marketplace Yojak has raised $3.8 Mn in a pre-series A round led by Info Edge Ventures. The round also saw participation from existing investors Kae Capital and angel investor Arun Venkatachallam. Construction focused global investor, Foundamental and founders of B2B startups such as Zetwerk, MedikaBazaar, Bizongo and Blackbuck, as well as angel investors such as Anupam Mittal, Sanjiv Rangrass also participated in the round. 

The company stated that the fresh funds will be used to build teams across tech and non-tech roles, develop new tech solutions and expand into new markets and categories. 

Founded by Anuj Jain and Rachit Garg in 2019, Yojak began as a full stack platform for businesses in the  building materials industry. The company offers its services to small retail stores by working directly with manufacturers, and providing a full stack value proposition starting from discovery, delivery to financing.

“Born in a family with a building material manufacturing business, we realised that there is a significant gap in the building materials supply chain , with most businesses relying on traditional means for supply of materials, resulting in limited accessibility. Due to poor demand predictability small manufacturers also struggle with inefficiency in inventory cost as well as an inefficiency in manufacturing overheads,”  said Rachit Garg, founder, Yojak.

Commenting on the investment, Kitty Agarwal, partner at Info Edge Ventures said “Starting with tiles and sanitaryware, they deal in non-standard, local, unbranded supplies between local manufacturers and retailers in Tier-2,3,4 cities across India. These regions still struggle with access to broader catalogues of SKUs, broken fulfilment and lack of stable pricing along with quality assurance.”

Contributing to the government’s Make in India vision, over the last 12 months, the company claims to have also made in-roads into the international markets of both developed and emerging economies with a focus on building strong brands in export markets across European Union, America and the Middle East. It also stated that it has scaled 10X in the last 12 months. 

Besides Yojak, companies such as Zetwerk, Moglix, IndiaMART, Udaan and others also cater to the construction sector in India, with a majority of them having a wider focus on B2B procurement and manufacturing needs.

Recently, marketplace for construction and manufacturing  material, Infra.market raised INR 100 Cr in venture debt funding from Alteria Capital. The company also entered the  unicorn club, after raising $100 Mn in Series C funding round led by Tiger Global. Even B2B manufacturing marketplace Fashinza, raised $20 Mn in Series A funding. 

The global business-to-business ecommerce market size was valued at $6.64 Tn in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.7% from 2021 to 2028, according to a report by Grand View Research.