Bootstrapped Bricks to IPO Dreams: Aaditya Sharda on Infra.Market’s Tech Edge, Manufacturing Power & Private Label Play
📝Interviews
In this exclusive interaction with StartupTalky, Aaditya Sharda, Co-founder of Infra.Market, shares how the company evolved from a bootstrapped startup to a unicorn leader in the building materials industry. Starting with an asset-light model that fueled early profitability, Infra.Market pivoted to owning manufacturing facilities to better control supply chains as demand grew. Sharda also discussed the company’s unique strategy, which includes a focus on private-label products and a diverse product portfolio, helping position it as an industry leader. With plans for aggressive expansion and technological upgrades, Infra.Market is now preparing for an IPO as part of its long-term growth vision.
StartupTalky: Being the co-founder, what inspired you to start Infra.Market, and how has the company grown over the years?
Mr. Sharda: For the first three years, we were a bootstrapped but profitable company. The idea behind Infra.Market was simple: we wanted to aggregate demand from multiple projects and tap into underutilised manufacturing capacities. This is to create our own private label products for demand fulfilment. In most categories, we focused on manufacturing and supplying under our own private label, while in select categories, we distributed competitor brands.
However, our approach was very clear, the moment we launched our private label in any category, we would completely stop distributing any competing brand within that space. This asset-light model allowed us to remain profitable while being bootstrapped. This strategy also gave us a deep understanding of market dynamics, customer preferences, and supply chain gaps. It helped us identify categories where we could build stronger value propositions with our own private-label products.
As the demand scaled, especially from large projects where we were already empanelled, we started facing fulfilment challenges. Third-party manufacturers often struggled to meet our growing demand, creating bottlenecks in delivery and execution. This became a pivotal moment, prompting a strategic shift towards owning our own manufacturing facilities and controlling the supply chain end-to-end. This transition, from a managed marketplace model to a vertically integrated platform, enabled us to ensure product consistency, improve margins, and most importantly, meet customer demand at scale with greater reliability.
Today, we own over 250 manufacturing plants across 15+ product categories, with nearly 65% of our revenue driven by our private-label products. Supported by in-house technology for real-time demand planning and logistics optimisation, we now execute over 10,000 deliveries every day. It positions Infra.Market as a one-stop building materials platform catering to infrastructure, real estate, and retail customers across the construction ecosystem.
StartupTalky: What is the core business model of Infra.Market, and how is it different from traditional players?
Mr. Sharda: Infra.Market is a leading building materials platform offering 15+ product categories through a strong network of 250+ tech-integrated manufacturing facilities across the country. Our strategy has always been focused on increasing our wallet share from every project and customer we engage with. While we are amongst the top 3 players nationally in categories like Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC), AAC Blocks, Tiles and more, our real strength lies in how we enter and expand within a project.
Concrete is the very first material required at the start of any construction, whether infrastructure, commercial, or residential. With over 200 RMC plants, Infra.Market ensures early entry into projects by becoming the preferred concrete partner. Once we have entered, as the project progresses, the demand for other building materials naturally follows, from AAC Blocks, Plumbing, Tiles, Sanitaryware, and Paints to MDF, Plywood, Electricals, Modular Kitchens, and Appliances. Our in-house technology tracks the progress of each project in real-time, enabling seamless lead handover across business verticals. This integrated approach allows us to cross-sell and upsell multiple product categories within the same project. It resulted in a significantly higher wallet share in a project compared to traditional players.
With 250+ manufacturing plants across diverse product lines, Infra.Market ensures control over product quality, availability, and timely delivery, solving industry’s biggest pain points.
What truly sets us apart is our vertically integrated business model. Unlike conventional marketplaces that simply connect buyers and sellers, we have built deep capabilities in manufacturing, distribution, and technology. It allows us to deliver a consistent customer experience at scale. As platform adoption grows and technology penetration deepens, our integrated approach will continue to drive strong growth and long-term differentiation in the building materials industry.
StartupTalky: How does your multi-category portfolio of 15+ product lines help Infra.Market stay ahead of competitors in the construction materials space?
Mr. Sharda: Infra.Market is building India’s first multi-product and multi-channel building material platform, and that’s exactly what sets us apart. While most players focus on gaining leadership in one product category, our strategy is to create a larger impact by capturing a higher wallet share from every project by offering multiple building material categories.
With a strong focus on in-house manufacturing and a pan-India presence, we try and offer everything to a project from foundation (concrete) to finish (Modular kitchens). This, in turn, helps us to get the highest wallet share from that project, thereby helping us stay ahead of the competition in any project supply.
The vast category of products offered includes RMC, AAC blocks, steel, aggregates, tiles, plumbing, MDF, plywood, laminates, electrical, sanitaryware, and even modular kitchens and appliances. This allows us to stay present across every phase of construction, starting with concrete, the first product required on-site, and expanding as the project progresses, capturing the larger wallet share of the project. It not only ensures consistent supply and better control over quality but also strengthens our brand visibility.
Adding to this is our unique proposition of building a “House of Brands” within the construction ecosystem, a first-of-its-kind in the industry. With a portfolio that includes RDC Concrete, Shalimar Paints, IVAS, Emcer, Millennium, Amstrad and many more fully owned brands, we are creating a one-stop platform that caters to the entire spectrum of construction needs. This has not only strengthened our product offering but also helped build trust and recall across infrastructure, real estate, and retail customers alike.
StartupTalky: What tools and technologies do you use to manage operations and optimise the supply chain?
Mr. Sharda: We have built a tech-first platform that integrates AI-driven demand forecasting, real-time inventory management, and GPS-enabled logistics, allowing us to predict material needs accurately, optimise stock, and ensure faster, cost-effective deliveries.
Our in-house tech tracks project progress in real-time, enabling seamless lead handover across business verticals and driving cross-sell and upsell opportunities within the same project. It helped us capture a larger wallet share of the project.
With advanced data analytics and CRM integration, we proactively recommend products based on project needs and past purchases. It creates a smarter, more agile supply chain that sets Infra.Market apart in the industry.
Shalini Rath
StartupTalky: How has Infra.Market implemented automation in its operations to scale effectively?
Mr. Sharda: Infra.Market has embedded automation across key functions to drive scale and efficiency. From digitising core workflows at manufacturing units to leveraging IoT-powered systems, our operations are built for speed and precision. For instance, real-time data from sensors on our trucks helps us optimise routes, track deliveries, and monitor material conditions in transit. This not only enhances operational reliability but also ensures faster, smarter, and more predictable deliveries for our customers.
StartupTalky: Infra.Market saw a 2.4x rise in its profits in FY24, which is largely driven by private labels. What are the key drivers behind this growth?
Mr. Sharda: Our growth has been largely fueled by our focus on private-label manufacturing, which has significantly improved margins and overall profitability. We have built strong private-label brands across both B2B categories like Concrete, AAC Blocks, Plumbing, MDF, and Steel, and B2C categories like Tiles, Sanitaryware, Electricals, Modular Kitchens, Laminates and Appliances.
Today, nearly 65% of our sales come from our own brands, with 60% of these products fully manufactured in-house. This gives us better quality control, a wider product range, and deeper customer trust. Our private-label products now power large-scale infrastructure projects like airports, metros, and highways. This pivot has helped us transition from a managed marketplace model to a full-stack building materials platform, while also enabling us to expand deeper into Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets and grow our wallet share across projects.
StartupTalky: With Hella Infra Market Limited preparing for an IPO, what are your plans, and how will this shape the company’s future?
Mr. Sharda: We are building India’s first multi-product, multi-channel building materials platform, a one-stop solution catering to infrastructure projects, builders, and dealers. Our model is built on a simple but powerful belief: the same customer is willing to buy multiple construction products from a single trusted supplier.
As we scale and move closer to IPO, this becomes a critical business thesis investors will evaluate: our ability to capture higher wallet share from projects. The more we succeed in deepening our presence within a project across product categories, the stronger the validation of our model, and the greater the investor confidence in our platform’s scalability and profitability. But as we look to scale the business, it is becoming evident that capital infusion is critical and going to capital markets with an IPO is also a route we are evaluating.
StartupTalky: What are the requirements and process for setting up an Infra.Market franchise, and how does it benefit entrepreneurs looking to partner with you?
Mr. Sharda: Most of the dealers and retailers in the building material industry trade in only one category of products offering multiple brands. The ecosystem of dealers has been made in this manner by leading building material companies because they all supply one category and aspire to become leaders by increasing their distribution footprint. Therefore, a paint dealer largely sells only paint products, and a plywood dealer mostly sells only plywood, MDF and laminates.
Infra.Market, due to its wide variety of products and in-house brands, is helping dealers scale their business from their same retail space, thereby improving their ROI. A tile dealer is taking up modular kitchen distribution too, and a plumbing dealer is looking to include electrical products in his store. Some are even looking at selling 3-4 categories from their existing space. This helps a dealer extract a higher wallet share from their customer, architect, contractor or project, whomsoever they are supplying.
Hence, slowly and steadily Infra.Market is improving the supply infrastructure of this industry across India. Today, it boasts 12k+ direct dealers/distributors, and many of them are buying multiple categories of products. Some who are keen on retailing at a larger scale, set up a 3000-5000 sq ft franchisee store too. We have 30+ such stores across the country. All our dealers and franchisees get our tech support, which in turn helps them optimise their inventory norms and manage timely stock turn ratios.
This omnichannel product strategy helps us get entry into big dealer stores by expanding their offering rather than competing with their bestselling brand at the counter.
StartupTalky: What challenges do you foresee as Infra.Market scales, and how are you preparing to address them?
Mr. Sharda: While Infra.Market has seen strong growth, building materials remain a capital-intensive business with long payment cycles and high credit risk due to their unorganised nature. Margins are also low if the model is a pure distribution. Managing cash flows and delayed payments continues to be a key challenge, especially as we scale and expand into new markets.
Efficient working capital management is critical, and we are actively strengthening our financing ecosystem. Self-owned manufacturing and higher contribution from private labels help us improve on margins too. Even as we navigate these challenges, our focus remains on driving value for our customers while maintaining operational efficiency and financial discipline.
StartupTalky: What are Infra.Market's major growth plans and priorities for the next 2-3 years?
Mr. Sharda: ,Our revenue growth has allowed us to expand into new product categories, strengthen manufacturing, and improve supply chain efficiency. We look to add 50 Plants per year for our concrete business and mirror the footprint of these plant locations basis wherever the residential and commercial growth is happening. This is fueled by ambitious infrastructure spending by both the government and the private sector.
Infrastructure growth remains one of the top priorities for the Government, as seen in budget allocations. And the need for smart cities, highways, airports and roads is only on the rise, which is a strong tailwind fueling our growth plans. We are the country’s biggest AAC Blocks manufacturer with nine operational plants and look to add 5-6 more as the industry pivots from Red Brick to AAC Blocks for long-term sustainability and strength.
On similar lines, our state-of-the-art Pipes and Fitting Plant is coming up in Naidupeta. A couple of plants have already been commissioned for Wood Panels in Rudrapur and Yamuna Nagar, and capacity expansion is planned there too. Tiles is another sector where we are second in the country in terms of manufacturing capacity, and we intend to boost that further to become industry leaders.
Other categories will also see similar expansion in manufacturing capacity, and further, we look to expand our dealer network. An extensive dealer network enables deeper penetration into projects across Tier B and C cities, where distribution remains highly fragmented. Continued technology upgrades and increased presence in these regions are key drivers of long-term growth.
As platform awareness and tech adoption rise, we anticipate entering more projects, strengthening existing relationships and sustaining our growth momentum across infrastructure, real estate, and retail markets.
Sakshi Jadhav
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