Duroflex Pvt Ltd, which operates its business under two main brands Duroflex and Sleepyhead, on Thursday said it has raised $60 million (Rs 451 crore) from Norwest Venture Partners.
The investment from Norwest will help Duroflex scale its business nationally, increase its presence via direct to consumer (D2C) and digital, and deeply engage in sleep science, said Mathew Chandy, sleep evangelist and managing director, Duroflex.
Prior to this funding, Duroflex had raised Rs 160 crore ($22 million) from mid-market consumer-focused private equity firm Lighthouse Advisors Pvt. Ltd in 2018.
Since then, the company said in the latest statement that it has grown three-fold through focused retail and online expansion led by its omnichannel brand Duroflex and D2C brand Sleepyhead that is focussed exclusively on digital-native millennials. Sleepyhead was launched in 2017.
Mathew Joseph, co-founder Sleepyhead, said that its focus is to strengthen its non-mattress category which includes beds, sofas, and sleep accessories.
The company claims that 33% of its revenues coming from e-commerce. It added that it is also a business to business (B2B) player with marquee clients like Ikea, Stanley and is now actively pursuing export opportunities.
Shiv Chaudhary, managing director at Norwest, said that Duroflex's strong team culture and approach to building an omnichannel business is laying the foundation for further scale and a compelling initial public offering (IPO) in the future.
Silicon Valley-based investment firm Norwest has invested in several of large tech first consumer companies including Swiggy, Pepperfry, Mensa, Vuori, Udemy, Casper, Calm, Uber, and Spotify.
The fundraise was advised and managed by Avendus Capital. VCCircle had reported in June that Duroflex had hired Avendus Capital and that it was in talks with large private equity firms for expansion capital.
The mattress market, which is highly unorganised in India, has players such as Wakefit, Sleepwell, Sheela Foam and Kurl-on, besides Duroflex.
Several players have raised funding from institutional investors in the recent past. In December last year, Wakefit raised Rs 185 crore ($25 million) in its Series B round of funding led by Belgian firm Verlinvest SA.
In October 2019, mattress maker Sleepycat raised Series A funding in a round led by consumer-focused venture capital firm DSG Consumer Partners and the family office of Marico Group’s Harsh Mariwala.
