Zetwerk  raises  ₹895  crore in new round, joins unicorn list

Business-to-business (B2B) marketplace for contract manufacturing Zetwerk has raised around ₹895 crore ($120 million) as part of its Series E funding round, catapulting it into the coveted unicorn club.

Zetwerk’s aggregate equity valuation has touched ₹7,876 crore ($1.06 billion), according to VCCircle estimates. This takes the total number of startups that have crossed the $1 billion valuation mark this year to 24 up from 11 last year.

The funding was led by global investment firm D1 Capital, which has backed Indian tech startups such as Dream11 and Zomato. D1 Capital alone brought in ₹372.29 crore as part of this funding round, according to regulatory filings on Friday.

The new funding comes just months after Zetwerk raised $120 million in a Series D round led by US-based Greenoaks Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners in February.

Other investors who participated in the latest funding round include new investor Avenir Growth ( ₹74 crore) and existing investors Greenoaks ( ₹240 crore), Lightspeed Venture Partners ( ₹167 crore), Sequoia ( ₹37 crore), and Accel ( ₹1.85 crore).

Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal backed VC firm Aroa Ventures, QED Innovation and other individuals pooled in the remaining capital.

Bengaluru-based Zetwerk, operated by Zetwerk Manufacturing Businesses Pvt. Ltd, was set up in 2018 by Amrit Acharya, Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Rahul Sharma, and Vishal Chaudhary. The company connects mid-to-large original equipment manufacturers from India and Southeast Asia with firms that require custom products and machine parts.

The startup says it has forged partnerships in segments such as precision parts, capital goods and consumer goods. The product categories it serves include prefabricated structures for infrastructure projects, sheet metal for electric vehicles, precision parts for aerospace, and assembly lines for consumer durables.

Zetwerk said in February that it will use its Series D funding to enhance its technological infrastructure and expand into newer categories and regions. The company had raised $21 million in a Series C funding round in July last year.

B2B marketplaces in India have raised funding at a frenetic pace, with the gap between two rounds of funding being less than a year or just over a year for a few of them.

B2B e-commerce platform Udaan was in 2018 the startup that achieved unicorn status the fastest in India.

In February, Infra.Market, a marketplace for on-demand construction materials, became a unicorn after raising $100 million in a Series C funding round from existing investors including Tiger Global, Accel, Nexus Venture Partners, Evolvence India Fund, Sistema Asia Fund, and Foundamental Gmbh.