Odisha-born Asish Mohapatra is the co-founder of a $5 billion startup that few people know of. His company, called OfBusiness, is a leading B2B e-commerce platform that facilitates raw material procurement for small and medium-sized businesses.The IIT-educated entrepreneur recently sat down with podcaster Raj Shamani to ruminate on the ins and outs of running a B2B business in India.
The co-founder and CEO of OfBusiness, who is an IIT Kharagpur graduate, said that his company manufactures 60% of all Uniqlo belts sold worldwide. (Also read: ‘No office, sketched plans on floor’: Founder of India’s first unicorn recounts humble startup story ) “If you go to Uniqlo and you see their belts, we’re main manufacturers throughout the globe. We probably have a 60% market share of their belts. Its financial-services arm, Oxyzo, provides financing to businesses. (Also read: BITS Goa dropout, 22, claims he earned ₹ 35 lakh a month. See Ashneer Grover’s reaction ) OfBusiness was founded in 2016 by Asish Mohapatra, Ruchi Kalra, Vasant Sridhar, Bhuvan Gupta, and Nitin Jain. The startup is valued at $5 billion, according to valueforstartups.in. It is eyeing a valuation of $6 billion to $9 billion for its IPO.
During the conversation, Mohapatra revealed a surprising fact — OfBusiness manufactures products for several reputed international brands. We do for Zara, we do for Michael Kors, Coach, Adidas, Reebok, Nike,” he revealed. The list includes names like Reebok, Zara, Coach, Michael Kors and Uniqlo. “What are the top brands that you manufacture for? Shamani asked Asish Mohapatra. The revelation left Raj Shamani stunned. “You manufacture for all of them? Nobody knows you!” he exclaimed. Asish Mohapatra is the CEO of OfBusiness and the Co-Founder of its NBFC arm, Oxyzo. He holds a BTech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the Indian School of Business (ISB). Headquartered in Gurugram, OfBusiness is a B2B platform that facilitates the procurement of commodities such as steel, chemicals, polymers and agricultural products by connecting businesses with suppliers and managing the sourcing and transaction process. The startup is backed by SoftBank, Tiger Global and Alpha Wave.
“I think Uniqlo would be one,” Mohapatra replied.
