Virtual reality-based interior design and contracting firm Flipspaces has raised $3.5 million (Rs 24 crore at current exchange rates) from homegrown private equity firm Carpediem Capital, a company statement said.
The company will use the money to enhance technology, increase its market presence across multiple cities in India and further expand its product database from organised and unorganised suppliers, said Kunal Sharma, founder and chief executive officer of Flipspaces in the statement.
FlipspacesTechnology Labs Pvt. Ltd was founded in 2015 by Sharma, Ankur Muchhal and Vikash Anand.
The venture allows users to actively interact with design spaces, where they can make changes in real time. It caters to the commercial market servicing offices, restaurants, educational and financial institutions, and hotels.
The company claims to have already executed projects for over 1.5 million sq. ft. of commercial spaces. Its portfolio includes startup offices, co-working spaces, storefronts and corporates such as Bosch, Radio Mirchi, Quantiphi, Indiqube, Regus, Nobroker, Coverfox, Razorpay, Play Simple Games, Moveinsync, Thoucentric and BusaGo among others.
“We see great opportunity in the commercial interior design and build market in India. Currently, less than 20% of the market is serviced by organised entities and about 80% is serviced by local unorganised contractors. This gap allows an opportunity to create a model of scale backed by technology-enabled design and execution,” said Hithendra Ramachandran, managing director, Carpediem Capital in the statement.
Carpediem Capital
Founded in 2014 by Abhishek Sharman, Arvind Nair and Ramachandran, all former India Equity Partners executives, the PE firm marked the first close of its debut mid-market fund, Carpediem Capital Partners Fund I, at Rs 75 crore in 2015. It had raised the bulk of the target corpus by the middle of 2016.
Some its bets include online fashion jewellery brand Sukkhi Online Pvt. Ltd, retail chain stores Nysaa Retail Pvt. Ltd, medical devices company Collateral Medical, quick service restaurant Biryani Blues, sauce maker Adinath Agro Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd and repair services and refurbishment startup Gadgetwood.
Deals in the space
A number of ventures in the real estate and interiors space now offer virtual reality-based services.
A report by Goldman Sachs last year stated that the opportunity for VR in the consumer real estate space is set to cross $2.5 billion by 2025.
In July 2018, VR startup SmartVizX raised Rs 10 crore ($1.4 million) in a pre-Series A funding round led by Indian Angel Network’s eponymous fund and angel fund YourNest Venture Capital.
In September last year, online realty platform Housing.com launched a native VR product which can display projects in 3D.
Online home rental marketplace FastFox has been using VR, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things to help its consumers search for homes.
In January 2018, Scapic Innovations Pvt. Ltd, a VR and augmented reality platform, raised $500,000 in a seed round from Speciale Invest, Axilor Ventures and Newfort Capital.