[Funding alert] Karkhana.io raises $1.5 million in seed round

Karkhana.io, a B2B on-demand manufacturing platform has raised a seed round of $1.5 million led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India. It also saw participation from several angel investors.

This startup founded in 2018 aims to digitise and streamline manufacturing industry. It plans to use this funding round for growth initiatives and establish its technology platform to meet the demand for custom manufacturing.

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Karkhana.io’s manufacturing capabilities encompass 3D printing, sheet metal work, CNC machining and injection moulding.

Karkhana.io Founder and CEO, Sonam Motwani said, “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 works with various types of manufacturers to address their pain points across the supply chain. These include: coordinating production and delivery for multiple small parts, delays, inconsistency in quality, lack of transparency, etc.

According to this startup, by working closely with a large network of manufacturers, it can integrate operations for clients, as well as gain control over the quality of work delivered. Besides, the online platform of Karkhana.io has the tools for manufacturers to manage projects more effectively while providing visibility of progress on the projects.

“Manufacturing is one of the largest sectors in India but suffers from extreme inefficiency and capacity underutilisation. 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,” said Kanika Mayar, Executive Director at Vertex Ventures SEA & India.

Karkhana.io said despite 2020 being a lacklustre year for the manufacturing sector, it has managed to add new clients and scale its team as well adding revenue through the year.