Skip to main content

India’s HomeLane raises $30M to expand its one-stop shop for interior design

HomeLane, a Bangalore-based startup that helps people manage home renovations and interior design, today announced it has raised $30 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand its proprietary technology.

The financing round, dubbed Series D, was led by Evolvence India Fund (EIF), Pidilite Group and FJ Labs. Existing investors Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital and JSW Ventures also participated in the round, which pushes the five-year-old startup’s all-time raise to $46 million.

HomeLane helps property owners furnish and install fixtures in their new apartments and houses. Interior designers need to be local to customers and supply chain partners need to have the capacity to ship to a location. So HomeLane has established 16 experience centers in seven Indian cities so consumers can touch and see materials and furniture.

The startup plans to use the fresh capital to broaden its technology infrastructure and expand to eight to 10 additional cities.

HomeLane competes with other online furniture sellers such as Livspace and Urban Ladder, as well as brick-and-mortar stores. Founders Rama Harinath and Srikanth Iyer say their startup differentiates by offering a one-stop shop — it sells everything from fitted kitchens and wardrobes to entertainment units and shoe racks — and by providing guaranteed on-time delivery and after-sale services to help homeowners finish projects.

The site allows property owners to upload floor plans, which are reviewed by interior designers who provide product suggestions, price quotes and 3D pictures of how furnishings and fixtures will look after they are installed. The startup, which has worked with more than 900 design experts to deliver over 6,000 projects, pays to the designers a fraction of the money it charges customers.

Iyer, who serves as the chief executive of HomeLane, claimed that the startup is inching closer to being EBIDTA profitable (which does not include taxes and a range of other expenses). That would be a notable turnaround for HomeLane, which reported a net loss of $4.1 million on revenue of $5.6 million in the financial year that ended in March 2018.

Prashanth Prakash, a partner at Accel India, said, “We are very happy with HomeLane’s current growth trajectory and are believers in the long-term growth prospects of the home improvement consumer segment in India.”



from Startups – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2EJcZRu
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Axeleo Capital raises $51 million fund

Axeleo Capital has raised a $51 million fund (€45 million). Axeleo first started with an accelerator focused on enterprise startups. The firm is now all grown up with an acceleration program and a full-fledged VC fund. The accelerator is now called Axeleo Scale , while the fund is called Axeleo Capital . And it’s important to mention both parts of the business as they work hand in hand. Axeleo picks up around 10 startups per year and help them reach the Series A stage. If they’re doing well over the 12 to 18 months of the program, Axeleo funds those startups using its VC fund. Limited partners behind the company’s first fund include Bpifrance through the French Tech Accélération program, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Vinci Energies, Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, Caisse d’Épargne Rhône-Alpes as well as various business angels and family offices. The firm is also partnering with Hi Inov, the holding company of the Dentressangle family. Axeleo will take care of the early stage in...
Post a Comment
Read more

TikTok’s rivals in India struggle to cash in on its ban

For years, India has served as the largest open battleground for Silicon Valley and Chinese firms searching for their next billion users. With more than 400 million WhatsApp users , India is already the largest market for the Facebook-owned service. The social juggernaut’s big blue app also reaches more than 300 million users in the country. Google is estimated to reach just as many users in India, with YouTube closely rivaling WhatsApp for the most popular smartphone app in the country. Several major giants from China, like Alibaba and Tencent (which a decade ago shut doors for most foreign firms), also count India as their largest overseas market. At its peak, Alibaba’s UC Web gave Google’s Chrome a run for its money. And then there is TikTok, which also identified India as its biggest market outside of China . Though the aggressive arrival of foreign firms in India helped accelerate the growth of the local ecosystem, their capital and expertise also created a level of competit...
Post a Comment
Read more