Delhi-based MTech Engineering Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates industrial e-commerce platform industrybuying.com, has raised $2 million in seed funding from early stage venture capital firm SAIF Partners.
The fund will be used by the company to grow its direct traffic and vendor base, besides enhancing technology and operations. It also plans to build custom e-commerce products to bring corporate buying online.
"industrybuying.com represents a growing segment of emerging players who are using technology with a differentiated approach in the e-commerce sector. The momentum the company is experiencing is encouraging and we believe our capital infusion can help it grow faster," said Mukul Singhal, principal, SAIF Partners.
"The industrial e-commerce model is proven in the US and Chinese markets,†he added.
The company was founded by Rahul and Swati Gupta (they are siblings). Rahul has over 12 years of experience and was previously associated as a trader with Lehman Brothers. He completed his higher studies from Columbia University. Swati is an ex-Bain and Co employee and has 14 years of management consulting and private equity advisory experience in New York and India. She holds a graduate degree from Carnegie Mellon University.
"Nobody in India was doing what Grainger.com and Amazonsupply.com have done in the US. We saw the gap and launched our e-commerce operations. Our vision is to be for the industry what Flipkart or Snapdeal are for the consumer," said Rahul.
"The addressable market is huge. Industrial sector forms 28 per cent of the GDP vs. retail that forms 14 per cent GDP," added Swati.
The platform hosts over 500 brands, 1,000 suppliers and 1.5 lakh products as of now. Its omni-channel presence includes online (e-commerce) and offline (corporate) customers like Motherson Sumi, Havells, RPG, Honeywell, Siemens, Tata Power, and Escorts, etc.
SAIF Partners is a leading venture capital firm with over $4 billion under management. It provides seed growth stage capital for emerging companies in India and China. The VC firm has backed over 40 companies to date including MakeMyTrip, JustDial, PayTM, BookMyShow, and Urbanladder, among others.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)