Days after Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced India’s headlining focus on production-centric activities in the Union budget 2021-22, global manufacturing platform Zetwerk completes a mega fundraise of US$120 million.
India-headquartered global manufacturing platform Zetwerk has raised a Series D round to the tune of INR 8.8 billion (US$120 million), the company announced in a statement today. The funds were raised from the company’s existing backers.
The round was led by U.S. investment firms Greenoaks Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, the company said, with participation from Indian investors Sequoia Capital India and Kae Capital.
The 2018-founded manufacturing tech company that offers proprietary technology and project management solutions for SME manufacturers. The company aims to use the Series D fundraise to bolster its technology, and further expand into new categories and regions, the statement noted.
“The global manufacturing industry has had to swiftly adjust to the new normal, and digital solutions have become essential. Zetwerk accelerates this digital transformation with state-of-the-art productivity tools and remote project management,” Co-founder and CEO, Zetwerk, Amrit Acharya said in the statement.
“2021 will see further pace of growth as companies seek to diversify their procurement to minimize disruptions and become more agile and resilient,” he also said.
The company’s total equity capital pool now stands at $193 million, according to the statement. This includes a $21 million Series C last year led by Greenoaks, a $32 million Series B in 2019 led by Greenoaks and Lightspeed, and $9 million in Series A funding led by Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital India, also in 2019.
Further, both Kae Capital and Sequoia Capital India funded Zetwerk’s $1.5 million seed round in 2018.
Zetwerk’s technology is applied to a number of industries
Zetwerk, which Acharya founded along with Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Rahul Sharma and Vishal Chaudhary, focused on the manufacture of precision parts, capital goods and consumer goods, the statement said. Consumer goods grew to represent 15% of the company’s revenues within six months of being launched, it added.
“Zetwerk’s operating system for manufacturing has digitized multiple supply chains end-to-end, ensuring on-time delivery and high quality standards. This has led to rapid growth in India and internationally, with the potential to quickly become one of the most important manufacturing platforms globally,” Partner at Greenoaks Capital, Neil Shah said in the statement.
Zetwerk’s products, which include die-cast and sand-cast components, sheet metal and extrusions, find their place in a number of manufacturing-heavy industries such as processing plants, energy, steel, aerospace, automotive, consumer electronics, medical devices, apparel and luxury items.
The company grew by 3x year-on-year in 2020 and launched its international business in the same year, the statement also noted. It currently has over 250 customers and 2000 suppliers across North America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
Looks like the start of a good year for Indian manufacturing
“Zetwerk has defined a new category of marketplace, enabling manufacturing to be done with greater efficiency and speed than ever before, while exposing Indian suppliers to global markets,” Managing Director of Sequoia India, Shailesh Lakhani noted in the statement.
Incidentally, just two days ago, the Finance Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman announced Union budget proposals for 2021-22.
One of the biggest highlights of the proposals was her focus on manufacturing, such as through the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. The PLI scheme was announced in 2020 and gives companies (including foreign companies operating in India) financial sales incentives conditional on domestic production. In her proposal, Sitharaman extended the PLI scheme to 13 sectors to encourage local manufacturers
Sitharaman also announced financial reforms for a number of other industries, such as textiles and infrastructure. Further, she echoed the incumbent government’s long-standing focus on aatmanirbharta, or self-sufficiency, further promoting local production and uplifting the outlook for manufacturing.
Manufacturing contributed about 13.6% of India’s GDP in 2019, reflecting a declining trend since 2015.
“We were amazed by the customer centricity and anti-fragility of the Zetwerk network. Zetwerk showed up as a real dependable partner to its buyers and suppliers, often stepping up to help in moments of vulnerability – especially during the Covid induced lockdowns. The Zetwerk supply chain has emerged leaner, faster, stronger on multiple fronts post Covid, and it is a great example of an antifragile system,” Vaibhav Agrawal, Partner at Lightspeed, said.
“Zetwerk provides businesses in industries like infrastructure, manufacturing and consumer goods a consistent and high quality end-to-end service. The Zetwerk platform enables Indian SMB suppliers to increase their revenues and provides them a truly global reach. We are very happy that the founders chose to partner with Accel since the early days, they have really been great at executing and scaling the business,” Prayank Swaroop, Partner, Accel said.
“We are privileged to have been early partners with Amrit, Srinath and the Zetwerk team in their journey. Zetwerk’s unique platform is being used for digital transformation of the manufacturing industry globally. We look forward to the exciting journey ahead along with our co-investors – Greenoaks, Lightspeed, Sequoia and Accel,” Sasha Mirchandani, Managing Director, Kae Capital said.
Header image courtesy of Zetwerk
