YouKraft

YouKraft, operating under the legal entity Youkraft Solutions Private Limited, is a Bengaluru-based e-commerce marketplace focused on the interior design and construction industry. Founded in 2018 by Manav Goel and Torun Mathias, the company aims to digitize and streamline the highly unorganized market for building materials. The idea was conceived in 2021 to address prevalent issues such as opaque pricing, limited product choice, unreliable supply chains, and credit constraints for professionals in the sector.

The founders' backgrounds are complementary and deeply rooted in the industry. Manav Goel, the Founder and CEO, brings over two decades of experience from the interior fit-out industry as the Managing Director of Woodkraft, a company that has handled over 600 projects for Fortune 500 clients. This experience provided him with firsthand knowledge of the sourcing and execution challenges that YouKraft now seeks to solve. Co-founder and CSO, Torun Mathias, a high school friend of Goel, spent 13 years on Wall Street as a mergers and acquisitions banker before returning to India to start a boutique real estate development company, where he personally encountered the problems of procurement and project management. This collective experience was the impetus for creating a technology-driven solution.

YouKraft operates as an online marketplace catering to homeowners, interior designers, architects, and contractors. The business model is centered on providing a unified platform where users can purchase a wide array of products, thereby earning revenue through the sale of these goods. The platform tackles key industry challenges by offering price transparency, a broad selection of brands, and dependable on-site delivery. Its product catalog is extensive, covering categories like carpentry, hardware, tools, electricals and lighting, plumbing, sanitary ware, flooring, paints, and home appliances. At launch, the platform featured over 200 brands and 50,000 SKUs, with plans to expand significantly. A proprietary machine learning engine analyzes pricing data to offer tailored recommendations and cost-saving suggestions to users. The company secured a significant milestone with a $10 million seed funding round on April 11, 2022, from the Goel Family Office, which is being used to scale its services, enhance its technology, and expand its geographic footprint, initially launched in Bengaluru with plans for a pan-India rollout.

Keywords: e-commerce marketplace, construction materials, home improvement, interior design supplies, building materials online, B2B procurement, Manav Goel, Torun Mathias, Woodkraft, Bengaluru startup, proptech, construction technology, digital supply chain, home renovation, architectural supplies, plumbing materials, electrical supplies, hardware e-commerce, paint procurement, contractor supplies