Bangalore-based GS E-Commerce Pvt Ltd, which owns and runs online interior design platform Design Café, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from early-stage investment firm Fireside Ventures, micro venture capital fund Sprout Capital, founder of the Salarpuria group of companies Apurva Salarpuria and angel investor Siddharth Pansari, a company statement said.
This is the second round that the company has raised in the last 18 months. The firm will use the funds to expand its experience centres, the statement added.
Shezan Bhojani, chief executive of Design Cafe, says that the startup has seen 300% growth in revenue over the last 12 months. “Customers can now visualise their homes in virtual reality before it is made and can even get a warranty on installed interiors giving them the much-needed peace of mind while building their homes,†he said.
The company is confident of achieving over Rs 100 crore in revenue over the next 24 months, Gita Ramanan, the other founder of the startup, said in the press note.
Design Café was founded by architect and designer Ramanan and Bhojani in 2011. Both founders are architecture graduates from the BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore.
Similar startups that received funding include Hyderabad-based Foyr.com, which secured investment from a new real estate technology investment vertical set up by property consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) India in October last year.
Delhi-based Avant Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates GharCentre, was also in talks to raise close to $1 million (around Rs 6.65 crore) in a Series A round of funding from Kalaari Capital last year in May.
Bangalore-based startup Infurnia Furnishings Pvt Ltd had also raised seed investment of $160,000 (around Rs 1.1 crore) from early stage venture capital firm Idein Ventures in January last year.
The startup also competes with Olive Theory, which was previously known as BedBathMore, Livspace and Furdo, among others. Online furniture players such as FabFurnish, Pepperfry and Urban Ladder besides horizontal e-commerce majors such as Flipkart.com, Snapdeal.com and Amazon.in also have a presence in the home decor and design space.
Last month, Fireside Ventures, an early-stage consumer-focused venture fund, marked the first close of its debut fund with commitments of Rs 180 crore (about $28 million). The fund had secured the backing of marquee investors, including the family offices of Wipro promoter Azim Premji (PremjiInvest) and consumer goods maker Marico’s the Mariwalas (Sharrp Ventures), private equity firm WestBridge Capital, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group and Emami Ltd.
