Manufacturing Services Platform Zetwerk Raises $9 Mn Series A Funding

Bengaluru-based manufacturing services platform Zetwerk has raised its Series A funding of $9 Mn from Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital India. The existing investor Kae Capital also participated in the round.

Zetwerk is a marketplace for manufacturing requirements (such as casting, forging, fabrication etc.) of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and engineering procurement construction (EPM) companies (like Jindal, BGR energy, Embassy Group etc).

The startup will utilise the new funds for its supply base expansion across India. Also, Zetwerk will use the funds to build new tools for small manufacturers, in order to help them run efficient businesses.

“We have got 1,000 partners today and are constantly growing that number. Our eventual goal is to index all of India’s manufacturing supply whether they work with us or not,” Amrit Acharya, cofounder and CEO at Zetwerk said.

On the demand side, Zetwerk works with mid-to-large OEM companies from India and South-East Asia, who require procurement of custom products and machine parts which are not available off-the-shelf in the market. On the supply side, Zetwerk works with manufacturing small and medium entreprises (SMEs) like Bharat Wires, RN fabricators, and GM Engineers across multiple categories (like fabrication, machining, casting, forging, etc) who can meet this demand.

The company charges a small percentage of the transaction it facilitates and has been able to grow its revenue 20-30% month-on-month in the past 15 months from company’s inception.

Company claims to  have a pan India supply footprint with an aggregrated delivery capacity of over 15K MT (megatons) per month. The startup has network of more than 500 supply partners and average 200 plus projects are delivered per month.

“Today, if you want to order a $5 bag of tea you can find the best one online and it will ship to you from anywhere in the world,” said Prayank Swaroop, partner at Accel Partners. “But if you want to order or sell a factory part worth thousands of dollars, there’s very little visibility into where to find the perfect part or buyer. Zetwerk aims to solve this important global problem by bringing information symmetry, efficiency and cost effectiveness.”

Zetwerk was founded by Amrit Acharya and Srinath Ramakkrushnan in June 2018. The company had previously raised a $1.2m seed round in August, 2018. The team estimates custom manufacturing to be a $40 Bn market in India.