Infra.Market becomes India's latest unicorn after $100-million fundraising

Infra.Market has joined the unicorn club after raising $100 million in a Series C round. This round was led by Tiger Global, with participation from other existing investors Accel Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, Evolvence India Fund, Sistema Asia Fund and Foundamental Gmbh.

Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to Infra.Market on the transaction.

The company had raised a seed round from Accel in June 2019, and has achieved the unicorn status in less than 20 months. Following the $100-million round, the company has raised $150 million so far.

Founded by Souvik Sengupta and Aaditya Sharda in 2016, the Mumbai-headquartered technology firm is a one-stop marketplace for construction material. 

The company seeks to offer an enhanced procurement experience to players in the construction ecosystem.

It is digitally transforming the construction material supply chain by aggregating the capacity of small manufacturers and adding a technology and services stack. The start-up is targeting the $140-billion construction material market, with a focus on the infrastructure sector.

The company, which has been profitable for the past four years, currently has gross merchandise value (GMV) of $400 million, and is targeting a GMV of $1 billion this year.

“We will focus on geographic and product expansion to achieve this target. Further, the focus on higher spend in infrastructure, as mentioned in the Budget, will help us expand further,” said Sengupta.

The company is expected to benefit from the 34 per cent increase in allocation for infrastructure projects, announced in the Union Budget.

  

“We are seeing rapid acceleration in demand, given that infrastructure and real estate companies are looking to shift their procurement in order to get consistent quality and minimise delays,” said Sengupta.

“With pioneering technology innovation and the ability to stitch together private label brands, Infra.Market is positioned for strong growth, healthy economics, and profitability,” said Scott Shleifer, partner at Tiger Global Management.

Infra.Market focuses on construction products under its own brands and aims to solve existing issues such as a lack of price transparency, unreliable quality, fragmented vendor base, and inefficient logistics.

More than two-thirds of its sales are contributed by the company’s own brands, which include concrete, stone material, chemicals, and cement. 

The firm is about to launch in-house brands in paints and plywood soon.

The company caters to both institutional customers and retail outlets in the construction material sector, and supplies across 10 states. In addition, it exports to markets such as the UAE, Singapore, and Bangladesh.