Mumbai-based TrendSutra Platform Services Pvt. Ltd, which runs furniture e-tailer Pepperfry, managed to narrow its losses last financial year even as revenue grew 25.3%, filings with the Registrar of Companies show.
The company reported a loss of Rs 128.9 crore for FY17 compared to Rs 154.9 crore in the year prior.
Revenue from operations grew to Rs 114.9 crore last fiscal from Rs 91.5 crore in FY16. Total expenditure was almost flat at Rs 256.5 crore in FY17 compared to Rs 253.2 crore in the previous year.
Pepperfry’s co-founder and chief executive Ambareesh Murthy told VCCircle over a phone call that the company's omni-channel strategy paid off. "We have offline presence in more than 10 cities, and that has enabled us to grow the business without making superior investments. We have tightly controlled all expenses. As our business has grown, the efficiencies of scale have come through,†he added.
This is not the first time Pepperfry has brought down its losses. In FY14, it reported a loss of around Rs 31 crore, a reduction from Rs 42 crore in the previous fiscal, according to VCCEdge, the data research arm of VCCircle.
Last year, Pepperfry had raised $31.3 million from existing investors including Goldman Sachs Group, Zodius Technology Fund, Norwest Venture Partners and Bertelsmann India Investments. That round took the company's total funding to $160 million.
Founded in January 2012 by Murty and Ashish Shah, Pepperfry started off with categories such as home, lifestyle and fashion. It now specialises in furniture and home products.
The company had secured $100 million in funding in July 2015. Previously, it raised $16 million from Bertelsmann India Investments, the local investment arm of international media company Bertelsmann. It had mobilised $8 million from Norwest in April 2013.
India's online furniture segment has seen a lot of action in recent years with Pepperfry and rival Urban Ladder raising substantial funding.
Urban Ladder has raised close to $92 million so far from investors such as Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners, Kalaari Capital and Steadview Capital. It has not filed its FY17 financials yet.