NowPurchase raises $2.4 mn seed from Orios Venture, InfoEdge Ventures

NowPurchase, a procurement technology company for the metal manufacturing industry, has raised $2.4 million in a seed funding round led by Orios Venture Partners and InfoEdge Ventures. Angel investor Neeraj Arora (ex-WhatsApp global business head & Co-Founder HalloApp) also participated in the round.

The Kolkata-based company will use the new funds towards expanding its procurement business by establishing a global supplier base and expanding into other parts of India. NowPurchase will also use the funds to further strengthen the technology team to build out its procurement platform and expand the offering of its manufacturing intelligence software-MetalCloud.

Naman Shah, Founder & CEO, NowPurchase, said, “Metal is the primary building block or backbone of the physical world and will remain so in the foreseeable future. As a result, it is critical that we are able to manufacture metal efficiently. The source and quality of raw materials has a significant impact on metal manufacturing efficiency. NowPurchase is a one-stop procurement platform for these raw materials, and we believe that efficient raw material sourcing can have a significant positive impact on the metal manufacturing industry.”

NowPurchase provides its users with a WhatsApp bot to discover prices and stock in real time, a dedicated technically trained team to provide on-ground service and quality assurance, and a proprietary software-MetalCloud to optimize their manufacturing process.

Shah added, “We are extremely excited to build a strong technology layer which provides dynamic insights to manufacturers to optimize their manufacturing process & suggest them the right raw materials depending on their end output, production technique & real time supply chain situation.”

Vinit Bhansali, Senior Vice President at Orios Venture Partners,  says, “Digitizing procurement is a critical milestone and one of the most important gaps that remains to be filled in India's manufacturing sector. NowPurchase's tech-first platform will be a game changer in this space. We are excited to partner with Naman to build a technology enabled disruptor in this critical sector.”

Kitty Agarwal, Partner at InfoEdge Ventures, said “We are very excited to partner with NowPurchase in their journey to become a disruptor in cloud procurement in the metal manufacturing industry. India has a strong advantage in production and conversion costs in key metals and NowPurchase’s innovative solution ensures transparent and efficient procurement for metal manufacturers.”

The company has grown ten-fold since launching its platform for foundries in September 2020. In terms of customers, it has nearly 100 foundries on the platform, with 70 of them transacting monthly.

The NowPurchase team consists of 35 people, with aggressive plans to grow its business & product teams this year.

NowPurchase was founded in 2017 by Naman Shah and Aakash Shah, with an initial investment of $300K from Nipha Group.

Arindam Basu and Sonal Biyani of Basic Roots Consulting acted as the financial advisors to the company for this transaction.