Startup Originals Team
In a manufacturing landscape dominated by supply-chain chaos and fragmented small factories, one Pune start-up is quietly making a big difference. Founded in 2021, Rawmart is helping India’s small and medium industrial units, the often-overlooked backbone of the economy, by re-engineering procurement, manufacturing capacity and innovation. Today, Rawmart has delivered over one million steel parts with minimal to zero rejection rates, reshaping what it means to support SME manufacturing in India.
The Problem: A Fragmented Manufacturing Ecosystem
Walking into a typical small factory in India reveals a pattern of challenges: idle machines, erratic material supply, insufficient credit, quality issues, and a “just-get-by” mindset. Rawmart’s founders realised the issue wasn’t the factory owners, it was the system around them. Fragmented raw-material supply, unpredictable demand, lack of innovation and weak working-capital cycles were stifling potential.
The Solution: A Platform That Enables Factories
Rawmart doesn’t just sell materials. Instead, it acts as a growth-partner for small manufacturing units:
- End-to-end supply & credit: Raw materials delivered reliably across India; working-capital eased via credit so factories don’t stay idle.
- Production aggregation: Spare capacity in small factories is aggregated and allocated, turning idle machines into active production lines.
- Innovation hub (Rawmart Labs): Helps SMEs move beyond making identical products. The labs design bespoke engineering solutions, develop automation and ensure sustained margins and competitiveness.
- Data-driven operations: A proprietary platform uses predictive modelling to match demand and supply, streamline procurement and minimise quality rejection. Factories on this network benefit from better visibility and reliability.
Early Traction & Impact:
- In just about three years from launch, Rawmart has delivered over a million steel parts to small factories in India, clocking minimal to zero rejection.
- The startup serves 140+ clients across sectors like infrastructure, railways, pharma, FMCG, solar and heavy engineering, spanning 14 states and 250+ pin codes.
- Financially, Rawmart began with revenues of approximately US $3.5 million in its first year, doubled in the next year to around US $7.8 million, and by FY 23-24 crossed US $10 million, remaining profitable from the start.
Why This Approach Matters:
- Unlocking capacity: Many small factories are capable but under-utilised. By providing predictable supply, design support and demand linkages, Rawmart helps them scale.
- Quality & speed: With tech-enabled procurement, predictive logistics and standardised processes, the startup reduces the usual chaos of late deliveries and high rejection rates.
- Sustainability & innovation: Beyond production, the emphasis on Rawmart Labs means SMEs are nudged to innovate, not just replicate – thereby improving margins and staying relevant.
- Ecosystem impact: The growth of small factories is critical for India’s manufacturing ambitions (Make in India, export push). Rawmart’s model strengthens the base of this ecosystem.
The Road Ahead:
- Expand into digitisation of SMEs: Rawmart plans to install ERP systems, IoT integration and robotics in partner factories to make them “smart-SMEs”.
- Venture into new materials and processes: Starting from steel parts, the startup wants to scale into plastics, metals, automation and more high-value engineering.
- Geographic expansion: While the footprint already spans 14 states, the next phase may see a push into Asia and Europe, offering its networked manufacturing model to global players.
- Build cluster-based manufacturing ecosystems: Within industrial clusters, Rawmart aims to synchronise supply chain, production and quality across factories, creating micro-ecosystems of efficient manufacturing.
Final Take-away:
Rawmart shows how deep-tech and platform thinking can revitalise India’s often-neglected small-factory base. By treating SMEs not as fragmented units but as nodes in a network, and providing supply, innovation and tech support, the startup is rewriting the growth story for manufacturing outside the big players. In doing so, it’s building a foundation for India’s bigger ambitions: manufacturing at scale, with agility and global-grade quality.
