Custom manufacturing solutions provider, Karkhana.io, has raised $6.3 million in Series A fundingled by Arkam Ventures and SIG Venture Capitalat a valuation of $24.5 million. Its existing investor, Vertex Ventures, also participated in the round. Vertex Ventures had led the seed round with an investment of $1.5 million.

In an exclusive conversation with Outlook Start-Up, founder and CEO Sonam Motwanisaid that the funds will primarily be utilised towards the company’s strategic expansion into the US and Europe, which are the global electronics hubs. It plans to build a pipeline in these regions wherein companies located outside India can leverage the country’s manufacturing supply chain.

“Our main focus will be investing the new funds towards building the supply side focussed on electronics and electronics integration. We also look forward to strengthening our supplier relationships on the electronic side,” Sonam elaborated.  

She added that currently Indian’s manufacturing solutions ecosystem has lakhs of suppliers and the company is currently working with around 500 suppliers spread across different types of manufacturing capabilities. The start-up’s primary focus areas in India are on four product sectors—battery packs and charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs), consumer electronics, medical equipment and aerospace syndrome.

“Over the next three years, we want to increase our current supplier base of 500 to 3000. This essentially will be our commitment towards empowering the ecosystem in India and enabling them with the right tools, right resources to be able to build for a larger market,” she mentioned. 

While many start-ups have been in the news for trimming their workforce as part of their cost cutting measures, Karkhana’s has ensured that it maintains a lean team of 70 employees. This helps it run cost-efficientoperations, which the company plans to strategically scale, depending on the demands of its international expansion plans.