Bangalore based construction materials e-commerce company, BuildTraders, has raised USD 200,000 in form of seed funding from US based arm of UAE headquartered Idein Ventures. E-commerce in construction domain is at a nascent stage in India and is more than $150 billion industry.
BuildTraders was started by IIT Bombay graduate Ranjeet Gakhare, and was later joined by Yogesh Pawde, Aditya Joshi and Shubham Choudhary, after its acquisition of property management portal Cozilla. Yogesh, an IIT Bombay graduate had worked with Housing.com and currently heads BuildTraders’s supply and operations division. Aditya, another IIT Bombay graduate is the category head while Shubham who is working as CTO of BuildTraders is a graduate from IIT Ropar and has previously worked with Amazon and Livespace. Ranjeet handles sales and marketing at BuildTraders.
Building a home is perhaps the biggest investment any individual does in their lifetime. But the construction industry in India is heavily unorganized. Customer doesn’t know how to construct the house, which engineer/architect he should contact for getting initial work done. Also, finding suppliers who can offer a reasonable price for best quality curated products is extremely tough given the fragmented nature of this market. Every supplier has its own price policy and wading through these myriad options can drive anyone crazy.
BuildTraders is a platform which makes the procurement of building materials totally consumer oriented and hassle free. It offers end to end solution for all the construction needs of an end user or a contractor. BuildTraders wants to make the process of home construction easy by giving a solution for construction materials procurement and also pass the required guidance to home owners. It is also creating a network of civil engineers, contractors, architects and structural consultants, bridging the gap between owners and related service providers.
“BuildTraders is building a technology platform, which will provide the best guidance in the process of construction, through reasonable prices and curated quality in building materials segment to the customers” says Yogesh.
BuildTraders is also supported and advised by stalwarts from Idein Ventures- global entrepreneurs and investors Rajeshwar Prasad , Ashwin Srivastava and Mahesh Vellaboyina,The startup will use the newly raised funds to ramp up its technology infrastructure and to strengthen its supplier base.
Mr Prasad, who is also a Cabinet Minister in the Republic of Guinea Bissau, believes that BuildTraders can expand globally to various countries of Africa, where Idein Ventures has other interests and investments in assets. BuildTraders will first further set up its India operations before executing its international plans.
