In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the “Make in India” program in an effort to accelerate India’s position as a global leader in manufacturing. Nearly a decade has passed since its inauguration and good progress is being made. Last year ended with India’s manufacturing sector in a growth phase: there was an increase in new orders and output, and business conditions revealed the fastest growth rate since pre-pandemic. At General Catalyst, we see the opportunity to build on the momentum that exists in India’s manufacturing sector as a key piece of our Bharat Digitization thesis.
Manufacturing continues to be a focal point for development in India. For India to effectively emerge as a manufacturing hub, it will need to be equipped for competition at the global scale. In Magma, a B2B manufacturing and supply chain enablement platform for ceramics and industrial chemicals, we found a partner seeking to unlock India’s manufacturing capabilities. It is opportunely headquartered close to Morbi, Gujarat, the world’s ceramics capital.
Today, we at General Catalyst are excited to announce we have led Magma’s $3.3M seed round to help India realize its potential as a manufacturing hub. We are really excited to work with founder and CEO Neal Thakker, COO Ashish Jani, and the rest of the Magma team to prepare India for the global stage through factory digitization and upskilling.
Driving Efficiency with a Full Stack B2B Manufacturing Platform
Central to Magma’s mission is ensuring that India’s factories are equipped with the digital tools they need to be export ready. Currently, there is a lot of friction in this process, but with Magma’s flagship products, a “Factory App” and “Supplier App”, India’s factories can operate more efficiently, and therefore export more readily. The Factory App provides a factory with global buyer options, optimizes production, and procures high quality, low cost raw materials with a single click, while also driving profits. The Supplier App’s dashboard includes daily orders and quote comparisons and enables suppliers to create purchase orders with a simple click. The latter has a robust lead generation tool that discovers global buyers that broadens the manufacturers’ reach. India’s factories that are upskilled with Magma’s technology have a competitive edge to expand into global markets and further the “Make in India” vision.
India’s Modernized Manufacturing Future
We believe India’s future as a manufacturing hub is more promising with Magma. To date Magma has onboarded 80 factories and has plans to scale operations, teams and further build their factory stack with this funding. Magma foresees the opportunity for India to be the first choice for international buyers looking to diversify their procurement. We are grateful to be on this journey and are excited to see this team work toward propelling India to the manufacturing world stage.
