NowPurchase, a procurement technology company for the metal manufacturing industry, has raised 2.4 million USD in a seed funding round led by Orios Venture Partners and InfoEdge Ventures.
Angel investor Neeraj Arora (ex-WhatsApp global business head & Co-Founder HalloApp) also participated in the round.
The Kolkata-based company will use the new funds towards expanding its procurement business by establishing a global supplier base and expanding into other parts of India.
“NowPurchase will also use the funds to further strengthen the technology team to build out its procurement platform and expand the offering of its manufacturing intelligence software-MetalCloud,” it said.
Speaking on the development, Naman Shah, Founder & CEO, NowPurchase, said, “Metal is the primary building block or backbone of the physical world and will remain so in the foreseeable future. As a result, it is critical that we are able to manufacture metal efficiently. The source and quality of raw materials has a significant impact on metal manufacturing efficiency. NowPurchase is a one-stop procurement platform for these raw materials, and we believe that efficient raw material sourcing can have a significant positive impact on the metal manufacturing industry.”
Commenting on the investment round, Aakash Shah, Founding Director & Mentor said, “We are a fast growing cloud procurement company and it is an extremely exciting phase for us. Such a strong investor interest validates our model of going deep within a customer segment and building a strong repeatable and predictable business model.” Aakash has been associated with the company since inception and mentors them on strategic decisions including sourcing, expansion & hiring.”
NowPurchase provides its users with a WhatsApp bot to discover prices and stock in real time, a dedicated technically trained team to provide on-ground service and quality assurance, and a proprietary software-MetalCloud to optimize their manufacturing process.
“We are extremely excited to build a strong technology layer which provides dynamic insights to manufacturers to optimize their manufacturing process & suggest to them the right raw materials depending on their end output, production technique & real time supply chain situation,” Naman added.
Talking about the funding round, Vinit Bhansali, Senior Vice President at Orios Venture Partners said, “Digitizing procurement is a critical milestone and one of the most important gaps that remains to be filled in India’s manufacturing sector. NowPurchase’s tech-first platform will be a game changer in this space. We are excited to partner with Naman to build a technology enabled disruptor in this critical sector.”
“We are very excited to partner with NowPurchase in their journey to become a disruptor in cloud procurement in the metal manufacturing industry. India has a strong advantage in production and conversion costs in key metals and NowPurchase’s innovative solution ensures transparent and efficient procurement for metal manufacturers,” Kitty Agarwal, Partner at InfoEdge Ventures added.
NowPurchase was founded in 2017 by Naman Shah and Aakash Shah, with an initial investment of $300K from Nipha Group. G.D. Shah, Chairman of Nipha Group said, “Change is the only constant. My brothers & I started with a modest machine shop back in 1960. It is heartening to see younger generations of our family innovate & create new businesses.”