THE ERA OF B2B MANUFACTURING

THOUGH B2C BUSINESSES GRABBED MORE EYEBALLS IN THE INITIAL YEARS WHEN THE STARTUP ECOSYSTEM WAS JUST EVOLVING, TODAY INVESTORS ARE REALIZING THAT B2B BRINGS STABILITY AND PROFITABILITY

- S. Shanthi

ACCORDING TO A REPORT BY IBEF, THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR OF INDIA HAS THE POTENTIAL TO $ 1 TRN. BY 2025.

India’s manufacturing sector was ripe for disruption since the turn of the decade. However, traditional businesses were either unfamiliar with the technological advancements or were too slow to adopt. This is when many entrepreneurs with strong knowledge in tech saw a huge white space and went on to launch successful B2B (business-to-business) manufacturing startups.

By leveraging tech, these startups have been able to help many billion-dollar manufacturing businesses address operational inefficiencies. Some of them such as Zetwerk, OfBusiness, Infra.Market, Moglix have also entered the coveted unicorn club. According to a report by IBEF, the manufacturing sector of India has the potential to reach $ 1 trillion by 2025. “The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will make India a common market with a GDP of $ 2.5 trillion along with a population of 1.32 billion people, which will be a big draw for investors,” it says. To tap into the huge opportunity, many more players have entered the space in the recent past and raised funding. For instance, Karkhana raised $1.5 Mn in a seed funding round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India in January 2021, Fashinza, which connects fashion brands with apparel factories, raised $20 Mn in Series A funding in August 2021 led by existing investors Accel Partners and Elevation Capital, Delhi NCR-based Nexprt raised $5 Mn in a seed round led by Sequoia Capital India and Lightspeed in December 2021 and about a year ago, Australia-based deeptech startup Truventor. ai acquired B2B cloud manufacturing platform Chizel.