Zetwerk Mixes Debt And Equity In Series B Funding

Bengaluru-based manufacturing services platform Zetwerk has raised $32 Mn in its equity series B funding. The investment came in from new investors Lightspeed and Greenoaks Capital as well as existing investors Sequoia India, Accel and Kae Capital.

Further, the round also saw participation from Udaan cofounder Vaibhav Gupta and OYO chief strategy officer Maninder Gulati. Along with this, the company has raised INR 100 Cr ($14.1 Mn) debt funding from a consortium of banks and non-banking financing companies.

Prior to this round, the company has raised $10.2 Mn from its bunch of investors. Amrit Acharya, chief executive officer of Zetwerk said that the company is investing heavily in building the entire platform in a robust and scalable manner.

“We have just started building a full-stack offering and will need funds to go beyond discovery and acting as a marketplace, but also venture into financing, logistics, helping suppliers in purchasing materials and others,” Acharya was quoted as saying by ET.

Zetwerk: How Does It Work?

Founded in 2018 by Amrit Acharya, Srinath Ramakkrushnan, and Vishal Chaudhary, Zetwerk is a B2B marketplace startup that connects large manufacturing companies with vendors and suppliers for customised products that are used as components of industrial machines and equipment.

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 enterprises (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 transactions it facilitates. Acharya reportedly added, “We cater to our customers from different parts of the country, but only 5% of our business is around exports where customers are outside India and suppliers are here. We are trying to build that business across key markets in the United States, Middle East, and Southeast Asia.”

Zetwerk Growth Plans

The startup claims to have more than 100 companies connecting with over 1,500 manufacturer partners in India. It further claims to be growing at around 20% m-o-m.

The company said it has 150 employees and is hiring aggressively to expand to a 200-member team by the end of the current financial year.

Vaibhav Agarwal, partner at Lightspeed said that the startup is targeting an almost $60 Bn market opportunity in India, which is one of the major positives for the company. The opportunities become larger if the company can take advantage of the opening up of the global market for Indian manufacturers, he added.

With no big player directly working in custom manufacturing space, Zetwerk has other B2B competitors such as IndustryBuying, Moglix, IndiaMART etc.