Karkhana.io gains USD1.5mn in seed round led by Vertex Ventures SEA & India

Karkhana.io has announced its seed round financing of USD1.5 million led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India (Vertex Ventures SEA & India). The company also saw participation from several industry leaders and angel investors. With this funding, Karkhana.io aims to fuel further growth and establish their technology platform to meet the burgeoning demand for custom manufacturing in India’s manufacturing industry.

Sonam Motwani, Founder and CEO, Karkhana.io, says, “Finding the right manufacturing vendor is a tedious and time-consuming process. The industry is still highly fragmented. There is no easy way to figure out which manufacturing process to go for, where to manufacture, and what is a fair price to pay, etc. We want to change this so that new products can go from prototyping to production seamlessly at a much quicker pace.”

Karkhana.io’s mission involves working with various types and sizes of manufacturers throughout the country and alleviating pain points that are prevalent across the supply chain: coordinating production and delivery for multiple small parts, delays, inconsistency in quality, lack of transparency, etc. By working closely with a large network of manufacturers, Karkhana.io can integrate operations for clients, as well as gain control over the quality of work delivered. All this can be done through Karkhana.io’s online platform, which has the tools for manufacturers to manage projects more effectively while providing visibility of progress on projects for customers.

Karkhana.io’s manufacturing capabilities encompasses 3D printing, sheet metal work, CNC machining and injection moulding. The young start-up is already enabling building cutting edge technology in India – from deep-sea underwater robots to satellite and rocket for outer space to components for electric vehicles, IOT and FMCG industries.

Kanika Mayar, Executive Director at Vertex Ventures SEA & India, comments, “Manufacturing is one of the largest sectors in India but suffers from extreme inefficiency and capacity underutilization. Through its online platform, Karkhana.io is well placed to disrupt the status quo and enable production processes which are simpler, faster and more transparent. Sonam brings tremendous expertise in her field, and we are excited to partner with Sonam and Karkhana.io in building the next generation of manufacturing services for India and the world.”

Notwithstanding the fact that 2020 was a somewhat lacklustre year for the manufacturing space in India, Karkhana.io’s unique business model helped them break out as they added new clients and continued to scale the team as well as revenues through the year.