An Indian startup that operates a business-to-business marketplace for manufacturing items is the latest to attain the coveted unicorn status in the South Asian market.
Bangalore-based Zetwerk said on Monday it has raised $150 million in a Series E financing round led by New York-based D1 Capital Partners. New investors Avenir and IIFL also participated in the round, along with existing investors Greenoaks Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners. The round also included several high-profile angel investors, including Kunal Shah of CRED and Ritesh Agarwal of OYO.
The new investment values Zetwerk at $1.33 billion, twice the $600 million-$700 million it was valued at in its Series D round in February this year.
The four-year-old startup runs a business-to-business marketplace for manufacturing items that connects OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and EPC (engineering procurement construction) customers with manufacturing small-businesses and enterprises.
All the products it sells today — ranging from parts of cranes, doors and chassis of machines — are custom-made.
“Nobody has a stock of such inventories. You get the order, you find manufacturers and workshops that make them,” explained Amrit Acharya, co-founder and chief executive of Zetwerk, in an interview with TechCrunch earlier this year.
The startup, which in recent years has expanded to Southeast Asia and North America, said its revenue grew approximately three times in 2020-21, to $128 million.
“In a short period of time, we believe Zetwerk has become a leader in delivering fast and cost-effective manufacturing solutions to companies globally and accelerating the pace of digital transformation of a very traditional industry,” said Jeremy Goldstein of D1 Capital Partners, in a statement.
The startup plans to deploy the fresh capital to broaden its technology stack and expand to more international markets.
“Zetwerk is helping enterprises navigate the shift to digital manufacturing amidst rapidly changing global supply chains,” said Acharya. “Over the last year, more than 100 western companies have moved their supply chains to India via Zetwerk, across industrial and consumer products.”
Zetwerk is the 25th Indian startup to become a unicorn this year, up from 11 last year, as high-profile global investors aggressively double down on promising firms in the world’s second-largest internet market.
