Why We Invested in iDO Devices: Building India's Electronics ODM Champion

The India Manufacturing Moment

In 2025, India is at an inflection point in electronics manufacturing. While Indian consumer brands have captured significant market and mindshare, to launch a new product, they still turn to Shenzhen, not Chennai or Bangalore. Why? Because Indian brands know what consumers want — the features, colors, and price points — but lack in-house design and manufacturing capabilities to develop products from scratch.

This is where Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) come in. ODMs handle the complete journey from product concept and design through manufacturing: selecting chipsets, integrating software, managing suppliers, ensuring quality control, and orchestrating manufacturing at scale.

Without local ODMs, some Indian companies were forced to build the entire development stack themselves — a costly process that hampers scale-up.

iDO Devices aims to fill this gap. The timing couldn’t be better: a $15 billion global ODM market¹, PLI schemes driving investment, and global brands actively seeking China alternatives. India’s ODM moment is now.

Beyond Simple Manufacturing

iDO operates at the intersection of technical capability and manufacturing excellence. They develop a wide range of product designs that brands can select, customize, and launch under their own labels. Like fashion houses anticipating next season’s trends, they constantly innovate, knowing that typically only one in ten designs will be selected by brands. This requires both technical depth and market intuition that iDO possesses.

ODMs operate with healthy margins while enabling brands to focus on what they do best — marketing and distribution. They compresses time-to-market for brands, a critical advantage in today’s fast-moving consumer electronics landscape.

But having the right business model is only part of the equation. Execution is everything — and that comes down to founders.

Why Shalabh and Ashita

At the early stage, you’re not investing in a company — you’re investing in founders. Shalabh Srivastava (Founder and CEO) and Ashita Gupta (Founder and Chief Business Officer) bring a great combination of deep domain expertise, proven execution capability, and genuine ambition.

Their credentials speak for themselves. With 15 – 20 years in the EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) business, including leadership roles at ZetTown (a JV with Zetwerk), they’ve first-hand experience of Indian electronics manufacturing. They delivered 10X growth for ZetTown in a year, a business that requires managing labor, real estate, supply chains, and hundreds of operational variables.

What truly stood out during our diligence was their execution velocity. Even before our investment, they secured a multi-crore order from their network. Equally impressively they’ve assembled a team of 100+ members across India and China, complemented by a global partner network — extraordinary traction for a seed-stage company.

This combination of vision and execution gives us confidence in their ambitious roadmap, converging into us co-leading their $4 million round with Merak Ventures.

The 100x Vision

We see massive opportunities for iDO in both domestic and global markets. In India, iDO can become the trusted ODM partner for the emerging wave of Indian hardware companies. They’re starting with BLE and Wi-Fi capabilities, expanding to GPS and GSM, with ambitious plans to eventually design their own System-on-Chips (SoCs) as they build vertical product volumes. This deep tech ambition sets them apart from simple assembly players.

The global opportunity is equally compelling. There’s no reason why an Indian ODM can’t serve brands in the GCC, Europe, or the US. What works for India works globally — often beating Chinese pricing. As global brands seek China+1 alternatives, iDO is perfectly positioned to capture this demand.

The opportunity ahead is virtually unlimited, and we’re thrilled to partner with Shalabh and Ashita on this ambitious journey.

¹ Industry estimates, as reported in iDO Devices funding announcement, September 2025