Zyod is an Indian startup providing its tech platform to world fashion manufacturers to assist them of their whole design-to-delivery course of. It has raised $18 million in a brand new funding spherical to expand its presence to more than 40 countries worldwide.
The Gurugram-based startup works with Indian factories to assist them manufacture fashion put on for world manufacturers. It gives ERP (enterprise useful resource planning) software program, which it calls the “brain of manufacturing,” that tells factories what wants to be produced, the way it must be made and when it must be made to allow them to absolutely make the most of their capability.
More than 80,000 small and medium factories in India have a capability utilization of lower than 33%, Zyod co-founder Ankit Jaipuria informed Ztoog. Through its ERP platform, the startup helps factories perceive what parts — like cloth — they want to use to produce garments for a selected model. It additionally explains the sample by which the material must be lower and stitched based mostly on the requirement raised by the model to get most utilization.
Further, the startup has developed a every day manufacturing reporting system to give a day-to-day motion plan to factories. This overcomes the challenges that native factories and their labor face in a typical setting the place manufacturing facility house owners handle operations by way of paper and pen or through WhatsApp.
“We are giving that day-to-day instruction, which earlier was given by a factory owner, and that’s: how it has to be made, when it has to be made, what has to be made — all of this runs through Zyod, and that’s why I say Zyod acts as a brain of manufacturing, and the factories act as executing arms,” Jaipuria mentioned.
Co-founded in early 2023 by Jaipuria and Ritesh Khandelwal, Zyod at present serves more than 550 clients in over 18 countries, including about 400 clients within the final two years. The startup initially helped D2C manufacturers with quicker launch time and low minimal order amount. However, within the October quarter, it began onboarding enterprise clients and has since added main manufacturers, together with Reliance Industries and Aditya Birla in India. It additionally counts Japan’s Urban Research, Anthropologie of Pennsylvania, U.Okay.’s NEXT and Boohoo, and VAN-DOS of Spain amongst its early purchasers.
In January, Zyod launched its cellular app throughout iOS and Android platforms. It focuses on long-tail clients that need to buy totally different kinds on the go. The app additionally helps enterprise purchasers see their orders. Zyod moreover plans to replace the app with new communication strategies, together with approving orders and speaking with groups by way of stay chat home windows.
The $18 million funding is Zyod’s Series A spherical led by RTP Global and together with participation from current traders Lightspeed and Alteria Capital and new traders Stride Ventures, Stride One and Trifecta Capital. The cash will assist the startup develop its presence within the Southern Hemisphere and penetrate markets akin to Brazil and Australia. It additionally seems to enter just a few under-tapped countries, together with Africa and the Scandinavian a part of Europe.
“Once we have expanded very well into both hemispheres, we can have all-season products consistent for our factories running in India,” Jaipuria mentioned.
Zyod has expanded its catalog to 10,000 kinds a month from 10 or 20 initially. The startup gives manufacturers predictions for what clothes kinds folks might want to purchase, based mostly on information it collects.
With the recent funding, Zyod desires to improve these predictions in addition to automate the platform to let manufacturers feed within the type and picture of the design they need to produce to get its sample out. The startup additionally plans to combine its software program with conventional stitching machines to scale back human errors.
The Series A spherical additionally consists of an undisclosed debt, which Jaipuria mentioned is particularly for working capital necessities.
“Zyod leverages tech to refine every facet of the production process, right from a modular design approach to optimizing operations at the factory level,” mentioned Nishit Garg, associate on RTP Global’s Asia funding staff, in a ready assertion.
Zyod’s new funding comes after it raised $3.5 million in a seed spherical in April 2023. Jaipuria informed Ztoog that the startup’s valuation has grown “multi-fold” for the reason that final spherical with out sharing a selected quantity. The startup additionally makes “multi-million dollars” of annualized income, the co-founder said.
“We’re delighted to double down on our partnership with Zyod,” mentioned Rahul Taneja, a associate at Lightspeed India. “Their global network is expanding rapidly, and we are excited about this next phase of growth.”