Chennai-based cloud manufacturing startup Frigate raises 175K USD in an oversubscribed pre-seed round from strategic investors. These include names like Vel Kanniappan, Angel Investor, Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Founder of Zetwerk, Abhishek Raj Pandey, Head of Sourcing and Procurement, Mamaearth, Vijay Pravin Maharajan of Bitscrunch, Prabhu Sengodan of SPK groups, Founders of M2P Fintech, Mohan and Jaikumar of Ippopay, Sundararaman Ramasamy, Founder of Wilcosource US and other Angel investors from US, Japan, Germany, and Singapore.
Founded in 2021, Frigate is an On-Demand Cloud manufacturing marketplace platform that provides Fabrication, 3D printing, and CNC machining services quickly, risk-free and affordable for OEMs, SMEs, and Startups.
This new funding will be used to further strengthen Frigate’s technology stack. They are developing an AI-enabled platform by identifying the topology of the design and sending it to the right machines available in our platform to manufacture the same by connecting machines via IIoT. Frigate is planning to set up offices in Chennai and Bengaluru to increase the headcount to 100+ within the next fiscal, the statement said.
“Started as a prototyping company, we have pivoted at the right time as our customer wants their designs to be manufactured as well. So we have traveled all over India to untap the right sources for the right manufacturing with the right material at the right time. We have onboarded all those on our platform to cater to the demand for global manufacturing. We would like to acquire 200 more customers and be a $100M company in the next three years,” said Tamizh Inian, Founder & CEO of Frigate.
The company has onboarded 150 SMEs on their platform for making their metal and plastic parts from Tier2 and Tier3 cities like Becharaji, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Belagavi, Trivandrum, Palakkad, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Jamshedpur, Hosur, Trichy, Madurai, Erode, Salem, Indore, Pithampur, Coimbatore covering almost all Industrial states in India. They have identified their strengths and are making use of the same to supply the increased global demand for Electric vehicles, Defence, and Aerospace.
Frigate has already exported parts to Singapore and Spain and wants India to be a manufacturing hub for the globe.
Vel Kanniappan, an active angel Investor said, “Frigate® is a platform built by a young and energetic team that can optimize cost, time, quality, and efficacy from Prototype to manufacturing. Within a short span of time, they have managed to scale the business with tremendous effort. I am impressed with their business model and the speed with which they operate.”
“When we hear about the words Fabrication, Casting, Die making, Moulding, Heavy Engineering, and Manufacturing; what comes to our mind is a traditional manufacturing setup. Tamizh is one of the first startup Founders in the Country who has transformed this traditional setup into a startup and has been building the future of the manufacturing marketplace. I wish him and team Frigate all the very best,” said Abhishek Raj Pandey, Head of Sourcing and Procurement, Mamaearth
Vijay Pravin said, “Frigate has a great potential to contribute to the growing needs of on-demand custom manufacturing services. I’m excited to back Tamizh and the team to come good.”
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