On Friday, that bet reached the stock market.
Shares of the Bengaluru-based manufacturing platform opened at ₹159 on the BSE and NSE, about 5 per cent above the ₹151 issue price, after a ₹5,012-crore initial public offering (IPO).
Accel sold about 12 million shares worth ₹181.45 crore and kept the rest. Partner Prayank Swaroop said the firm remains bullish and expects to hold about 6 per cent after the IPO.
The portion reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was subscribed 4.73 times, while the non-institutional category was subscribed 1.4 times, according to NSE data. The retail portion was subscribed 73 per cent.
Zetwerk earlier raised ₹2,251.23 crore from 99 anchor investors, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Nomura. The company sought a valuation of up to ₹25,583 crore at the top of its price band.
The issue comprised a fresh issue of ₹2,830 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 144.5 million shares by existing shareholders, including the founders, Peak XV, Lightspeed and Accel.
Zetwerk plans to use the fresh proceeds to repay debt, fund unidentified acquisitions and meet general corporate purposes.
Zetwerk was incorporated in December 2017. Its founders, Amrit Pratik Acharya and Srinath Ramakkrushnan, previously worked in manufacturing sourcing at ITC.
“The first idea was to build software to help run a factory, and they tried to sell it to factories, which weren’t buying. The second idea changed the model,” said Swaroop.
In the second model, Zetwerk initially brought customer orders to underutilised factories across India instead of setting up its own, and required them to use its software to receive those orders.
“I did not know the space well at the time, so I spoke to friends who were consultants at McKinsey and BCG, or who worked in large, established manufacturing setups. I asked whether this kind of contract manufacturing would work, and all of them said no,” he said. “But I really liked the founders. So, I had to back myself and the founders on a new model, even with my own friends telling me it would not work.”
At an early board meeting, Swaroop recalls, the founders spent 30 to 45 minutes discussing technology. That was an unusual emphasis for a B2B marketplace at the time. The company used software to identify production delays, such as suppliers waiting to procure raw materials, and built a solution around that bottleneck.
Swaroop said Zetwerk OS uses artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up customer proposals by analysing engineering drawings, calculating measurements and costs, and generating quotes. This has cut the process from a week to a few hours or even minutes.
“That lets us respond faster to customers, and their satisfaction goes up. They give us more work because we look like a more advanced supplier,” he said.
Swaroop credited the founders for expanding Zetwerk internationally and into verticals such as consumer electronics, fashion, solar, water and aircraft components. Accel had initially invested in its metal fabrication business.
Zetwerk pools capacity from third-party suppliers and its own facilities into what it calls a “universal factory”, run on its proprietary system, Zetwerk OS.
Manufacturing, its main business, posted FY26 segment revenue of about ₹9,375 crore at a 6.03 per cent earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) margin.
The ecosystem segment, which sources industrial commodities and raw materials, earned about ₹6,539 crore at a 1.24 per cent margin. Zetwerk is selling its civil infrastructure works segment.
In FY26, Zetwerk’s revenue from operations rose 40.4 per cent to ₹15,913 crore. Its net loss widened more than fourfold to ₹1,606 crore from ₹371 crore in FY25.
The loss was driven mainly by exceptional charges of ₹836 crore from continuing operations and a ₹453 crore impairment tied to exiting the civil infrastructure business.
Excluding exceptional items, loss from continuing operations narrowed to ₹81 crore from ₹121 crore.
The US share of revenue declined in FY26. Swaroop said this reflected faster growth in India rather than a deliberate shift away from the US market.
Swaroop said Indian companies have historically taken around 10 years or more to go public, citing Lenskart and Zomato. Zetwerk listed before turning 10.
He said manufacturing needs more venture capital investors, and that IPOs help attract firms beyond Accel.
Asked what Zetwerk has to prove as a listed company, Swaroop said: “They have to grow their profits, and they have to show that in each of their businesses, customers continue to work with them.”
The IPO also highlighted Zetwerk’s role in supplying energy products and components to data centres in the AI ecosystem.
Swaroop said Zetwerk has been growing 40 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) (revenue) but is not yet profitable. “But it will turn profitable. That is very clear. If you look at the anchor book and the public markets generally, you can see that everybody believes it will happen,” he said.
