Buildzar raises $4M in pre-Series A from Puneet Dalmia

Glow Homes Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs Buildzar.com, an online marketplace for construction materials, has raised $4 million (around Rs 27.2 crore) from Dalmia Bharat Group's managing director Puneet Dalmia in a pre-Series A round of funding.

Dalmia has made the investment in his personal capacity.

The Gurgaon-based startup will use the funds to expand its team, enhance the core platform and step up its marketing efforts, said Vineet Singh, co-founder and CEO, Buildzar.com, in a statement.

Founded in September 2015, the portal caters to individual home builders, apartment owners and small and medium sized builders and contractors. It has two verticals: The Material Store - a marketplace with over 20,000 products for civil, electrical and plumbing work besides bathroom and kitchen fittings, etc., and BuildMyHome – a curated platform for design and contracting services with over 70 building contractors and architects on its platform.

"The new age customer is younger, internet-savvy, and is willing to pay for standardisation and quality," said Singh. "Our vision is to give the consumer the power to manage a complex thing like construction using only her mobile phone."

Buildzar's app is available on both Android and iOS platforms. The startup claims to clock 750-800 orders on a monthly basis, with steel and cement being the leading categories.

Singh is the former business head of Info Edge (India) Ltd's real estate portal 99acres.com. The other two co-founders are GoIbibo's former head of consumer operations Swapnil Tripathi and construction industry professional and ISB Hyderabad alumnus Vivek Sinha.

"Buildzar.com is leading the market with little competition when it comes to the kind of services and product portfolio it provides. It has etched out a clear path to profitability on the back of its first mover advantage, an outstanding team, asset-light operations and a revenue-focused approach," said Dalmia on the funding.

Another player in the construction materials space is Bangalore-based Apnastock Solutions Pvt Ltd, which runs Buildkar. The firm earlier this month raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Meher Group CEO Mustafa Wajid, Gaadi.com founder Umang Kumar and other angel investors.

E-commerce firm Snapdeal last year launched a tools and hardware category, under which it sells construction material such as cement, paints, and bathroom and kitchen fittings.