Construction-tech Co. Bandhoo Raises $1.1 Mn Funding From Unitus Ventures

Bandhoo, a platform that aims to transform the digital landscape of the Indian construction sector, has raised $1.1 million from Unitus Ventures. By working closely with real estate, infrastructure and construction companies, building-material suppliers, and construct

BY Realty Plus
Published - Wednesday, 28 Jul, 2021

Construction-tech Co. Bandhoo Raises $1.1 Mn Funding From Unitus Ventures

Bandhoo, a platform that aims to transform the digital landscape of the Indian construction sector, has raised $1.1 million from Unitus Ventures. By working closely with real estate, infrastructure and construction companies, building-material suppliers, and construction workers, Bandhoo said it is set to make the labor market more transparent and efficient. With this, Unitus Ventures completes its twelfth investment in the job-tech category. Bharat Innovation Fund and other angel investors participated in this round. Founded by Prashant Gupta, CEO, and Sridhar Sundaram, CTO, in 2020, Bandhoo helps builders and infrastructure companies save costs and time in their project and procurement process. The platform brings the ease of e-commerce to construction by enabling the entire value chain using cutting-edge technology. Bandhoo is a 15-member team based out of Gurugram and Bengaluru. “The funds will primarily be used to expand the engineering team, invest in building new features and functionality, and scale up operations,” said Prashant Gupta, CEO, Bandhoo. We aim to on-board several large real estate and infrastructure companies, about 25,000 SME construction contractors and more than 150,000 construction workers by 2022–23. With such dramatically increased scale of supply, getting workers and labor contractors to any project site anywhere in India will be far easier and cost and time effective. Born during the pandemic, the startup is distinct in its identity as a part of the construction tech segment. Since February 2020, Bandhoo has about 6,500 SME construction contractors and more than 35,000 construction workers on board. The company serviced more than 10,000 jobs and more than 500 tenders for SME contractors across more than a dozen cities in India. Construction is a $200 billion market in India and so far hasn’t adopted much technology in its operations. It is also a growing sector due to investments in real estate and infrastructure. The construction sector is the second-largest employer in India (after agriculture) with about 60–70 million construction workers and 5–7 million micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) contractors. Bandhoo has seized on the opportunity to build a tech-centric business that smoothes out the discovery and interaction among all participants in the construction ecosystem.