The sourcing and procurement company, Capgrid plans to establish its warehouses across 12 cities pan India in the next 12 months.
Speaking to Mobility Outlook, Dheeraj Kumar Tiwari, Co-founder & CEO, Capgrid, said that through this expansion plan, the company hopes to target the major manufacturing hubs in the country. The plan would include setting up warehouses in Chennai, Ahmedabad, Nasik, Pune, Baroda, Mohali and Bangalore, to name a few.
Interestingly, the company already has a warehouse in Hosur near Bangalore, and with the expansion plan, it aims to add two more warehouses in the city. Besides, Capgrid currently has three more warehouses situated in Rajkot, Jaipur and one in Faridabad that was inaugurated in August 2022.
With this geographical expansion, the company is also looking at a core team expansion, the CEO noted. He added that the expansion plan includes building up a team of 125 core members from the current 23 within the next 12 months.
The CEO continued that the process of expanding the team has already begun with the infusion of INR 4.1 crore during the seed funding round. Meanwhile, with the Series A round of funding, Capgrid aims to enhance its technology offerings over the next 18 months.
Tiwari noted that 60% of the funds will be utilised in enhancing the technology to look at the quality aspects of the components from the supplier end. The company plans to associate with 50 of its strategic partner suppliers to introduce camera-based quality check technology.
The CEO noted that the technology already exists in the market, and Capgrid will programme it as needed and implement it at the supplier’s warehouse.
The new technology will not only benefit Capgrid but will also help the suppliers in better quality management for other customers, Tiwari said. With the implementation of the new technology, he added that the company aims to onboard bigger OEMs who also look for enhanced quality and lower prices.
Beginning its operations in December 2020 with TAFE Tractors, the company leverages an in-house cloud-based platform to improve the OEM component procurement process, Tiwari said. Speaking of the OEM partner, the CEO noted that the company currently manages the component supplies for 15 vehicle manufacturers in India, including BattRe, Kabira Mobility and Omega Seiki, along with some agriculture equipment manufacturers.
Going forward, post Series B funding, the company also plans for global expansion through which it aims to enter the aerospace industry.
“The main idea is that we can cater to any industry which buys precision parts and components and then assembles them to produce a finished product,” he added.