Mars Growth Capital, a joint venture of Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s banking subsidiary MUFG Bank and Israel-based Fintech Liquidity Capital, has topped up its investment in Infra.Market, putting in another $50 million in the business-to-business construction material marketplace.
The investment comes from the Mars Unicorn Fund, which also backed startups such as Zetwerk and Bizongo. It comes about two years after the fund first invested $50 million in Infra.Market.
The development also comes soon after VCCircle reported in February that the unicorn, operated by Hella Infra Market Pvt. Ltd, was in talks to raise fresh capital.
Infra.Market plans to use the capital to expand its international business in the Middle East and North Africa region and setting up a hub in the UAE, founder Souvik Sengupta told VCCircle in an interaction on Tuesday. The startup already has a unit in Singapore to cater to customers in Europe and the US.
“A lot of demand has shifted to India and Vietnam to what was earlier in China,” said Sengupta. “We feel both these regions are good markets for us and a dedicated team for them will help us expand our exports.”
“Currently, our exports are about 15% of what we do. Now, we’ll expand further and that’s where the next level of growth will come in for the export business,” he added.
Infra.Market expects the international markets will contribute about a fourth of the company's revenue in the next couple of years.
The startup, founded by Souvik Sengupta and Aaditya Sharda in 2016, focuses on high-volume construction products under its own brands. It offers products in categories such as concrete, steel, paints, tiles, granites, electricals and construction chemicals. It also owns stakes in Strata Geosystems (India) Pvt Ltd, a geosynthetic manufacturing and geotechnical engineering company, construction equipment rental service Equiphunt, and Shalimar Paints.
The startup clocked consolidated revenue of about Rs 11,846 crore for the year ended March 31, 2023. This compares with Rs 6,236 crore for FY22. Its net profit declined to around Rs 155 crore for FY23 from Rs 185 crore during the period under review, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle.
Sengupta said the company ended FY24 with nearly Rs 14,000 crore in sales and another Rs 300 crore in profit.
The company has also initiated the process for the listing of one of its subsidiaries RDC Concrete, a concrete manufacturer that it bought from private equity firm True North for Rs 700 crore in 2021.
For the parent entity, Sengupta said the company will look for a timeline of about 18 months for the IPO.
Infra.Market joined the unicorn club with a valuation of over $1 billion in February 2021 after raising $100 million in a round led by Tiger Global at a valuation of $2.5 billion.
