Zetwerk Raises $120 Mn In Series D Funding Round Co-led By Greenoaks Capital And Lightspeed Venture Partners The company will use the funds to strengthen its technology and continue its expansion into new categories and regions, making manufacturing capabilities more accessible and establish it as the go-to platform for the global manufacturing industry

Global manufacturing platform Zetwerk on Wednesday announced to have raised $120 million in its Series D funding round led by the US-based Greenoaks Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, to continue helping customers translate their digital designs into physical products, through access to a wide range of fully verified, flexible manufacturing capacity from small manufacturers (SMEs). Sequoia Capital India and Kae Capital also participated in the round.

The company plans to use the funding to strengthen its technology and continue its expansion into new categories and regions, making manufacturing capabilities more accessible and establish it as the go-to platform for the global manufacturing industry.

"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. 2021 will see a further pace of growth as companies seek to diversify their procurement to minimize disruptions and become more agile and resilient. We are proud to partner with the world's most innovative companies to catalyze their digital transformation in manufacturing," said Amrit Acharya, co-founder, and chief executive, Zetwerk.

Founded in 2018 by IIT alumni Amrit Acharya, Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Rahul Sharma and Vishal Chaudhary, the platform has been said to have rapidly established itself as a universal platform for the entire manufacturing ecosystem.

"We are excited to partner with Zetwerk on the next leg of their journey, as they expand their value proposition globally. 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," shared Neil Shah, partner, Greenoaks Capital.

The platform claims to modernize this industry using proprietary technology and project management techniques that enables growth and higher utilization for small manufacturers and ensures efficiency for global customers.

"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 anti-fragile system," stated Vaibhav Agrawal, partner, Lightspeed.

Since its founding, the startup has said to forged deep partnerships in three key segments of precision parts, capital goods, and consumer goods, serving a diverse range of product categories including Prefabricated structures for infrastructure projects; sheet metal parts for electric vehicles, precision parts for aerospace, assembly lines for consumer durables, etc.

The consumer goods category already represents 15 per cent of the company's revenues within six months of launch.

"Zetwerk has defined a new category of the marketplace, enabling manufacturing to be done with greater efficiency and speed than ever before, while exposing Indian suppliers to global markets. Having seen Amrit and Srinath's journey up close from the seed round, and Zetwerk's potential for accelerated growth in a post-pandemic world, further strengthened Sequoia Capital India's conviction to double down on the partnership," explained Shailesh Lakhani, managing director, Sequoia India.

Today, its global network includes over 250 customers and more than 2,000 suppliers spread over across 15 countries in North America, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. Overall, Its international business has grown substantially since its launch in 2020, as global customers sought to make their supply chains more resilient by diversifying into India and South East Asia as alternate sourcing destinations.

"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," said Prayank Swaroop, partner, Accel.

The company operates in more than 25 industries including process plants, oil and gas, renewables, steel, aerospace, automotive, energy, consumer electronics, medical devices, and apparel and luxury goods. Over 1000 unique projects have been executed and delivered to date, with twofold the number currently in progress.

"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 the 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," added Sasha Mirchandani, Managing Director, Kae Capital.

Across the world, the manufacturing sector is a large gross domestic product (GDP) contributor, 14 per cent for India, but is also a sector that has lagged behind in digital transformation.

The platform is increasingly being adopted globally, with the company growing threefold year-on-year in 2020, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company earlier raised $21 million in Series C in July 2020, bringing the total equity capital raised by the company to $193 million.