Zetwerk is an 18-month-old B2B marketplace that has raised a total of $44 million to date. Zetwerk enables businesses to handle the entire manufacturing process from product discovery through production, delivery and post-sale customer service. The Indian startup was founded in 2018 and has since grown rapidly, serving thousands of customers from more than 500 cities around the globe.
Zetwerk gathers detailed information about manufacturing processes and conditions over time from a large network of suppliers around the world, which allow it to match buyers with suppliers that can fulfill their needs. This data allows Zetwerk to provide accurate pricing information for the buyer’s selection and automatically generate RFQs for suppliers.
Zetwerk’s most recent funding round was a Series B round led by Founders Fund with participation from returning investors including Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Matrix Partners India and Chandigarh Angels Network as well as new investors such as CAP Ventures LLC, Ventursity Ventures LLP and Entrepreneur First India LLP. The funds will be used to expand the business further, adding new products and categories as well as more technological capabilities such as artificial intelligence tools for automated price discovery, standardized quality ratings and machine learning tools for predictive insights into global capacity trends in manufacturing.
Funding Rounds
Zetwerk has secured a total of $44 million in funding to date. Their latest round, a Series B funding of $32 million, was led by Lightspeed and was joined by the returning investors– Accel and Kae. This brings the total amount raised by Zetwerk up to $44 million.
Now let’s look into the other rounds of funding Zetwerk has gone through.
Zetwerk, an 18-month-old Indian B2B marketplace for manufacturing items, raises $32M
In February 2020, Zetwerk announced the successful completion of its seed round with $2 million in funding. The investors included Aberdare Ventures, GrowthStory, Venture Highway and a few other angel investors. This capital infusion provided Zetwerk with the resources to build its platform and expand into new markets. Prior to this round, the company had already secured $4 million in pre-seed funding from Accel Partners India and Venture Highway in February 2019.
As Zetwerk’s user base grew rapidly, the company raised an additional Series A round of venture funding from Tiger Global and Accel Partners India on August 21st 2020. A total of $32 million was raised during this round, making it one of the largest Series A rounds in Indian startup history. With this new capital influx, Zetwerk is planning to further strengthen its online capabilities and expand operations into additional markets throughout India and Southeast Asia over the next 12 months.
Overall, Zetwerk has raised a total of $44 million since its launch 18 months ago – an impressive accomplishment for any startup!
Series A Funding Round
The Series A Funding Round is the first major stage of venture capital funding. It usually occurs after the seed round, which provides money to prove the market for a product and test its more basic features. After demonstrating proof of concept and passing initial tests, companies often turn to Series A investors for next-level financing.
Zetwerk has raised a total of $44 million to date in its Series A Funding Round. Zetwerk, an 18-month-old Indian B2B marketplace for manufacturing items, raised $32 million from existing investors Lightspeed India and Accel India as well as new investors Goldman Sachs Growth Equity and Kae Capital. This brings the startup’s total funding amount to $44 million since it was founded in November 2017.
Founded by former Bain & Company senior associates Sumanth Rama (CEO) and Amrit Acharya (COO), Zetwerk provides B2B ecommerce services in the manufacturing industry including online procurement, digital catalog search engine, order processing systems and logistics services between brand owners/suppliers and buyers/producers. This most recent round of funding will be used to accelerate Zetwerk’s growth plans into 2020 and invest further in its technology capabilities related to AI/ML as well as deepen its presence across multiple locations in India focusing on key states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat amongst others.
Series B Funding Round
On April 7th, 2020, Zetwerk announced it has raised $32 million in a new Series B funding round. This brings their total funding to date to $44 million and is being led by Lightspeed India, Tiger Global, and Y Combinator.
Series B is typically the second round of capital investments a company receives, usually after they have proven the scalability of their product and established a customer base. The funds are raised from venture capitalists, investment banks (or private equity firms) to help propel the company forward and push towards profitability. This money allows for large scale efforts such as marketing campaigns, hiring new employees and expanding operations into new markets.
The Series B funding confirms that investors are confident in Zetwerk’s business model and management team as well as its prospects for success in both India’s booming manufacturing sector and international markets beyond it. It also gives Zetwerk enough capital to become profitable faster than expected by allowing them to focus on these core markets without compromising its customer service or quality standards.
The company plans to use this new round of funding primarily for product development initiatives that will improve user experience and supply chain optimization initiatives that will allow them to reduce costs while providing better quality goods at competitive prices. In addition, they plan on expanding their marketplace outside of India while exploring opportunities in different sectors such as automotive manufacturing via collaborations with major OEMs around the world. With this new infusion of capital, they are well positioned now even more than ever before to scale their solution up rapidly and remain competitive within the manufacturing e-commerce sector.
Use of Funds
Zetwerk, an 18-month-old Indian B2B marketplace for manufacturing items, recently raised $32M, bringing their total to $44M. This funding round will be used to further develop the platform and expand its reach. It will also enable the company to introduce new products and services that will cater to a wider audience.
Zetwerk is clearly on the rise, and this round of financing will only drive its growth further. Let’s explore the use of funds and what that will mean for the company.
Expansion of Product Line
With the new funding secured by Zetwerk, the 18-month-old Indian B2B marketplace for manufacturing items is looking to expand its product line and deepen its presence in the global market. This would allow the company to provide a wider range of products and services to their customers. Zetwerk’s mission is to help manufacturing companies optimize their production cycles by providing them access to high quality goods at competitive prices. With this additional investment, they will be able to better realize this mission.
The company aims to use this funding to launch a series of initiatives that would further increase the efficiency of their product offering, strengthen their ties with existing customers, and attract new clientele. This may include building out warehouse facilities, increasing staff across all departments, and investing in marketing activities that increase awareness about their platform. Furthermore, the funds will be used for research and development into emerging technologies such as 3D printing and RFID tracking that could assit manufacturing firms in streamlining processes even further. Improved operational efficiencies will result in increased sales for existing customers as well as opening potential for new business prospects both domestically and abroad.
Hiring of Talent
Funds raised by Zetwerk will be used to further expand its product suite and hire more talent. This additional funding will help the company offer a more diverse set of solutions to manufacturers and enable them to manufacture more quickly and cost effectively.
Specifically, the funds raised will be used for growing the product engineering, development and operations teams. Additionally, Zetwerk plans to recruit professionals from multiple domains including operations, analytics, marketing, design, UX/UI and data science to deliver best-in-class solutions for its customers.
The company is also looking at expanding its marketing efforts to reach out to manufacturing businesses in other states of India as well as globally.
Investment in Technology
Zetwerk, an 18-month-old Indian B2B marketplace for manufacturing items, has raised $32M in a Series B round led by Tiger Global. They have now raised a total of $44M to date.
The company plans to use the funding to upgrade their technology platform and ramp up operations across India. They are focused on connecting small and medium manufacturers with businesses worldwide by providing an easier access to materials and resources online.
Through the use of technology, Zetwerk will be making process automation more efficient and cost effective for businesses. It will also enable them to modernize the workflow of their factories with IoT solutions as well as investing in analytics capabilities in order to improve customer experience and provide better insights into market trends.
Additionally, they will use the investment from Tiger Global towards product enhancement, expanding their sales network collaboratively with industry partners, impressing upon customer service quality standards, as well as enhancing their data security & privacy infrastructure. Zetwerk is committed to driving digital transformation through leveraging technology for its customers in order to accelerate growth opportunities and established itself as the leading B2B marketplace for manufacturing platforms across India.
Impact of Funding
Zetwerk, an 18-month-old Indian B2B marketplace for manufacturing items, has raised $32M in it’s latest round of funding. This is part of the total $44M funding the startup has raised till date.
This influx of capital will have a major impact on the growth of the company and will help them achieve their goals faster.
In this article, we will discuss the impact of this funding on Zetwerk’s future.
Increased Market Share
For Zetwerk, the infusion of $32M in funding signifies increased market penetration, allowing the company to extend its reach and scope. The latest round of funding is expected to help Zetwerk expand its customer base and increase its market share. This is expected to lead to higher brand recognition, customer loyalty and improved customer satisfaction. Consequently, this should serve as an effective platform to further develop the business in both existing and new markets.
It also enables Zetwerk to use its resources more efficiently and effectively by investing in customer needs assessment, addressing supply chain issues with the latest technology solutions, enhancing employee engagement through strategic HR practices, designing more attractive product offerings for customers as well as offering better customer support. These advancements are likely to contribute significantly towards increasing revenue generation for Zetwerk as well as creating a stronger foothold in the B2B e-commerce domain.
Improved Customer Experience
The $32 million raised by Zetwerk in an ongoing Series B round of funding will be used at least in part to further enhance the custom-built enterprise platform service that the company provides. The funding round is led jointly by Lightspeed India Partners, Sequoia Capital India, and Kae Capital. This investment follows Zetwerk’s earlier Series A funding of $11.8M in 2019, bringing their total funds raised to date to $44M.
With this latest financial infusion, Zetwerk plans to build upon its existing customer experience and provide a better online marketplace for manufacturers. The platform allows manufacturers to seamlessly search for products, place orders on different terms with trusted suppliers, and track delivery status throughout its life cycle.
Going forward, Zetwerk intends to use its new capital resources to improve customer experience with more efficient logistics solutions and build an ecosystem of partner companies like freight forwarders and manufacturers through collaborations and mergers & acquisitions. This will help them penetrate further into newer markets such as aerospace rapidly while ensuring consistently high quality standards across regions. Also, they plan on focusing on expanding their research & development wing which would enable them to introduce better products faster into the market.
Increased Revenue
The additional funding has allowed Zetwerk to expand their efforts and their reach. This influx of capital is expected to result in an increase in revenue, as well as a larger client base. The company has developed powerful algorithms and implemented exclusive technology to help them scale quickly and competitively.
By leveraging this technology, the company hopes to expand their presence across different countries, focusing on both domestic and international markets. This expansion will also help in increasing their customer base of buyers, manufacturers, sellers, as well as distribution centers.
The increased funding will also allow Zetwerk to give buyers a wider range of options for purchasing goods from experienced manufacturers. The company aims to offer the best possible service for buyers by making the process quicker, easier, and more transparent than ever before. With the additional funding in hand, Zetwerk plans on growing its staff capacity and reaching out to industry professionals with extensive experience in manufacturing goods such as raw material providers and engineers.