OfBusiness Success Story: 5 Valuable Lessons for Every Entrepreneur

Introduction

In a country where industrial growth powers infrastructure, manufacturing, and commerce, OfBusiness has emerged as a silent force revolutionising how India’s businesses procure materials and access credit. Founded in 2015 by a team of seasoned entrepreneurs, including Asish Mohapatra, Ruchi Kalra, and Bhuvan Gupta, OfBusiness set out with a clear mission: to empower small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with seamless access to raw materials, financing, and data-driven procurement solutions.

What began as a bold attempt to streamline the opaque and fragmented world of B2B commerce has grown into a formidable full-stack platform, now valued at $2.87 billion. Headquartered in Ahmedabad, OfBusiness connects thousands of buyers with essential products like steel, cement, chemicals, and textiles, offering not just convenience but trust and transparency in an industry long dominated by middlemen.

The OfBusiness success story is backed by investors like Alpha Wave Global and Tiger Global, with $776 million in funding and a growing presence across India’s industrial landscape. But its success lies beyond numbers. OfBusiness enables entrepreneurs and manufacturers across retail, construction, and materials tech sectors to build faster, grow smarter, and scale sustainably.

As co-founder Asish Mohapatra puts it, “We’re not just selling steel or cement—we’re powering growth for the real economy.” That’s the essence of OfBusiness—a company built not for hype, but for impact at scale, helping Bharat’s builders and doers thrive in the new India.

Origin Story

The origin of OfBusiness is rooted in a shared vision among its founders to solve the deep inefficiencies and challenges faced by India’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in accessing raw materials and credit. Co-founders like Asish Mohapatra, Ruchi Kalra, and Bhuvan Gupta brought together their diverse expertise in finance, technology, and operations to address a fundamental problem: the fragmented, opaque, and trust-deficient industrial procurement market.

Before OfBusiness, many SMEs struggled to procure essential materials like steel, cement, chemicals, and polymers at fair prices and on reliable terms. Middlemen dominated the supply chain, often leading to delays, inflated costs, and credit hurdles that stifled growth. The founders recognised that the traditional offline, paper-heavy processes were holding back a vast segment of India’s economy—the very backbone of industrial development.

Motivated by the belief that technology could democratize access to working capital and industrial supplies, the team launched OfBusiness in 2015. Their goal was to build a digital marketplace that combined procurement, credit, and data analytics to empower SMEs with seamless, transparent, and efficient solutions.

As co-founder, Asish Mohapatra reflects,
“We saw an opportunity to bring trust and scale to the real economy, helping small businesses grow faster and stronger.”

The journey began in Ahmedabad, with a lean team working tirelessly to onboard manufacturers and suppliers, understand their pain points, and create a tech platform tailored for India’s complex industrial landscape. This early groundwork laid the foundation for OfBusiness to evolve from a startup to a category-defining player, driving India’s industrial transformation one SME at a time.

Business Space and Early Challenges

OfBusiness operates in the B2B industrial materials marketplace, serving sectors such as Retail, Real Estate and Construction Tech, and Chemicals and Materials Tech. Its core business revolves around providing MSMEs with easy access to critical supplies like steel, cement, chemicals, polymers, textiles, and other building materials. Alongside product procurement, the company integrates financial solutions to address the working capital needs of small and medium enterprises.

However, entering this space came with significant challenges. India’s industrial supply chain is highly fragmented and largely offline, marked by a lack of transparency, unreliable suppliers, and limited access to credit for MSMEs. Many small businesses struggled to find trustworthy vendors and faced cumbersome procurement processes, often relying on informal networks and manual transactions.

Building trust was a primary hurdle. Convincing MSMEs to shift from traditional offline buying to a digital platform required persistent education and support. Additionally, offering financing options to customers with limited credit history posed risks and operational complexities.

Co-founder Asish Mohapatra recalled,
“We had to earn the trust of businesses that were sceptical of digital solutions and unfamiliar with formal credit processes.”

Despite these early obstacles, OfBusiness focused on creating a seamless experience combining product quality, competitive pricing, and easy financing, laying the foundation for its rapid growth.

Growth Strategies

OfBusiness grew rapidly by addressing a critical pain point for India’s MSMEs: access to both quality industrial materials and working capital financing. By combining a digital marketplace with integrated credit solutions, the company enabled small and medium enterprises to procure steel, cement, chemicals, and more, even when traditional financing was hard to come by. This unique model differentiated OfBusiness from other commodity marketplaces.

A key pillar of growth was the company’s technology-first approach. OfBusiness invested heavily in building a transparent, data-driven platform that streamlined supplier verification, pricing, and delivery. This boosted trust in an otherwise fragmented and offline industrial supply chain. On-the-ground sales teams supported hyperlocal customer engagement, helping MSMEs unfamiliar with digital tools transition smoothly.

As co-founder, Asish Mohapatra stated,
“We are not just a marketplace; we are solving a fundamental problem of trust and credit for India’s MSMEs.”

Strategic capital infusion from investors like Tiger Global and Alpha Wave Global accelerated product innovation and geographic expansion. During the COVID-19 pandemic, OfBusiness quickly adapted by enhancing digital payment options and enabling remote ordering, becoming a lifeline for businesses facing disruption.

Mohapatra also emphasised,
“Our growth is driven by deeply understanding our customers’ needs and offering end-to-end solutions, not just selling products.”

Through these focused strategies, OfBusiness transformed from a startup to one of India’s leading B2B industrial marketplaces, empowering thousands of SMEs to grow and compete in a rapidly modernising economy.

Marketing Strategies

OfBusiness’s marketing strategy has been central to establishing itself as a trusted partner for India’s MSMEs in the industrial materials sector. A core tactic has been building trust through transparency and education. The company invests heavily in content marketing, publishing informative articles, videos, and case studies that demystify procurement and financing for small businesses. This educational approach positions OfBusiness not just as a vendor but as a knowledgeable advisor, empowering MSMEs to make smarter decisions.

Digital marketing is another critical pillar. OfBusiness runs targeted campaigns across platforms like LinkedIn, Google Ads, and Facebook, focusing on business owners and procurement professionals. These campaigns highlight the company’s unique value proposition—integrated credit with procurement—and emphasise the ease, speed, and reliability of its platform. Messaging is often tailored regionally, tapping into local languages and industry-specific needs to maximise relevance.

OfBusiness also leverages on-ground sales teams as brand ambassadors who engage directly with customers, addressing doubts and demonstrating the platform’s benefits in person. This hybrid approach helps bridge the trust gap that many MSMEs have towards digital platforms.

Strategic partnerships with industry bodies, trade associations, and suppliers further amplify OfBusiness’s reach. By collaborating with trusted stakeholders, the company reinforces its credibility and expands access to untapped MSME clusters.

A standout aspect of their marketing is the focus on customer success stories. Sharing real-life testimonials from MSMEs that have grown thanks to OfBusiness’s platform creates strong social proof and builds an emotional connection. Co-founder Asish Mohapatra stated,

“Our marketing isn’t just about acquiring customers; it’s about creating lifelong partners who grow with us.”

Lastly, the company’s referral programs incentivise satisfied clients to recommend OfBusiness within their networks, fueling organic growth in a sector that thrives on word-of-mouth trust.

5 Valuable Lessons for Every Entrepreneur

1. Credit as a Distribution Engine

Instead of treating lending as a separate vertical, OfBusiness embedded credit within the purchasing workflow. This not only solved the working capital problem but also drove repeat usage and loyalty. As co-founder Asish Mohapatra put it:
“Credit is not a business—it’s a distribution strategy.”
Founders can learn to turn financial products into strategic levers rather than just revenue lines.

2. Leverage Technology to Build Trust and Transparency

In a traditionally opaque and offline industrial supply chain, OfBusiness used data-driven tech to ensure transparent pricing, reliable supplier verification, and seamless transactions. Startups must leverage technology not just for automation but to build trust—a key currency in B2B markets.

3. Monetise Through Scale, Not Margins

Unlike traditional traders who prioritise high margins, OfBusiness focused on volume, data, and repeat business. Their scalable model allowed them to serve clients with better pricing while generating sustainable profits over time. Lesson: In large, fragmented markets, volume + efficiency > margin obsession.

4. Operational Rigour Is a Moat

OfBusiness mastered execution—from managing logistics to verifying suppliers to underwriting credit—all with razor-sharp discipline. They built a culture that values execution excellence, not just big ideas. Startups in operationally heavy sectors must treat operations not as a cost centre, but as a competitive moat.

5. Stay Close to the Ground

Despite being a high-growth tech company, OfBusiness founders constantly engage with MSMEs to stay aligned with ground realities. This customer intimacy helped them iterate quickly and remain relevant. As Mohapatra said in an interview:

“We don’t sit in offices and make decks. We sit with customers and take notes.”
The takeaway: True product-market fit comes from listening, not guessing.

Conclusion

OfBusiness’s rise from a little-known B2B startup to a leading force in India’s industrial commerce landscape is a case study in disciplined execution, strategic thinking, and relentless customer obsession. In a space often ignored by flashy startups, OfBusiness found gold, not in glamour, but in grit. By solving real, unsexy problems for India’s MSMEs—access to raw materials and credit—it didn’t just build a business; it built infrastructure for growth.

Where many chased scale through marketing, OfBusiness chose to scale through trust, technology, and transparency. Its seamless integration of commerce and credit, powered by deep data intelligence and operational muscle, has brought efficiency to traditionally fragmented supply chains. For thousands of small enterprises, OfBusiness became more than a supplier—it became a growth partner.

What truly sets OfBusiness apart is its ability to marry tech with touch. While algorithms and analytics power the platform, its core remains profoundly human, grounded in listening to customers, empowering teams on the ground, and making decisions that align with long-term value creation.

As co-founder Asish Mohapatra puts it: “We don’t run behind valuation. We run behind value, and value always compounds.”

This ethos of value-first entrepreneurship is what every founder can learn from. OfBusiness is not just a unicorn—it’s a blueprint for building durable, impact-driven businesses in India’s vast and underserved markets. It proves that with the right blend of empathy, execution, and economic insight, startups can transform not only industries but the very backbone of the nation’s economy.