Maximising Manufacturing
Zetwerk, a manufacturing services provider, has been witnessing outstanding growth since its inception. This, Ankit Fatehpuria, Co-founder at Zetwerk, believes gives them the assurance that they are on the right track. So far, Zetwerk has raised a total of USD 662.2 million in over 12 rounds of funding. In March 2023, the company raised Rs 100 crore in debt funding.
What did you do differently in the last 12 months to tackle the uncertain times for Indian startups?
We have been focusing on certain pillars to keep growing. These are: building world-class processes and products, along with robust internal systems to meet the expectations of our customers, investors and external stakeholders, and a culture of empathy as an internal expression for the organisation at large.
What made you better than your peers?
We are very clear on the purpose of our business, which is to make an impact on the lives of people, and we live by this every day. Zetwerk currently employs more than 2,100 people full-time and generates employment for another 1,00,000 people indirectly through our business across India. We work with more than 10,000 supply partners to drive various manufacturing requirements. Some of our SME partners see more than a 100 per cent increase in revenues from partnering with us.
We have introduced more than 300 international customers to get their products manufactured from Indian suppliers, which counts towards 16 per cent of our revenue during FY22, all of which would have otherwise gone to neighbouring countries.
Share some of the early-stage challenges you faced in your journey.
Today, the manufacturing requirement is more diverse and deeper, so meeting specifics such as delivery time, minimum requirement, and certain customisation is essential. From a customer and supplier’s perspective, we encountered a broken supply chain system. Moreover, building the trust of suppliers to deliver outside a specific geographical area has also been a challenge.
What are your plans for 2023 and the areas of investment in the year ahead?
Zetwerk will bring significant demand for manufacturing to India and, in the process, make real additions to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and growth. We will continue to invest in capacity-building, either ourselves or through partnerships, and exploit available opportunities in the industrial as well as consumer manufacturing segments.
We are also heavily investing in our in-house technical capabilities to improve efficiency in the manufacturing supply chain and meet the specific needs of our customers and suppliers to give them a more personalised experience.
