Brandworks Bags Additional $4 Mn To Make AI Hardware In India

Electronics manufacturing startup Brandworks Technologies has raised $4 Mn (nearly INR 38 Cr) as part of its extended Series A round led by Roha Family Office.

This follows the startup bagging $7 Mn in the first tranche from Cactus Partners and GVFL in August. With the latest fundraise, Brandworks has closed its Series A round at $11 Mn (INR 97 Cr).

The startup plans to deploy the freshly raised capital to accelerate global expansion and strengthen research and development (R&D) capabilities in areas such as AI hardware, internet of things (IoT), and connected devices. A chunk of the capital will also be utilised to scale its design, engineering, and operations teams to support growth.

Founded earlier this year by Nikita Kumawat and Ishwar Kumar, Brandworks Technologies manufactures electronic hardware products such as audio wearables, charging devices and payment devices. Its product portfolio includes power banks, GaN (Gallium Nitrate) charger, mini sound bars, UPI soundboxes, PoS devices, dash cameras, smart car mirrors among others.

The Mumbai-based startup claims to work with 40 brands as their R&D design and manufacturing partners.

“We have innovated a lot of home theaters for leading audio brands, charging solutions, power backups and GaN chargers, which are quite prevalent in the market now for leading brands. Now, we are also going to do exports in Europe for the same product lines,” said Kumawat.

Going forward, the startup plans to set up a design and R&D centre in Taiwan to leverage the archipelago’s skill set, talent pool, and expertise in PCB designing and product development. Currently, Brandworks Technologies operates a sole R&D office in Bengaluru.

The development comes at a time when India has become a competitive manufacturing hub for smartphones, consumer electronics, semiconductors, and IoT devices. This surge has been fuelled by the Centre’s policy push and production-linked-incentive (PLIs).

India’s Push For Electronics Manufacturing

The fundraise follows the Union cabinet earlier this year approving a PLI scheme for non-semiconductor electronics components, with an outlay of INR 22,919 Cr. The initiative, aimed at strengthening India’s electronics manufacturing ecosystem, has since witnessed an overwhelming response from the industry.

In early October, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) receivedinvestment proposals to the tune of INR 1.15 Lakh Cr, nearly double compared to the scheme’s original target of INR 59,350 Cr.

He also mentioned that the IT ministry has received production estimates to the tune of INR 10.34 Lakh Cr against the set target of INR 4.5 Lakh Cr under the scheme.

The Center has projected the scheme will generate 1.41 Lakh jobs, well above the initial target of 91,600.

Subsequently, late last month, the Centre also approved the first batch of seven projects under the ECMS. The IT ministry said that the selected companies will invest INR 5,500 Cr under the scheme to indigenously produce key components, such as printed circuit boards (PCBs), camera modules, laminates and polypropylene films.

While Kaynes Circuits India received the government’s nod for four units, approval was accorded for one facility each in favour of SRF, Syrma Strategic Electronics and Ascent Circuits. The government said that the approved units will generate products worth INR 36,559 Cr and create over 5,100 direct jobs.

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