Mattress maker Wakefit Innovations Pvt. Ltd has raised Rs 185 crore ($25 million) in its Series B round of funding led by Belgian private investment firm Verlinvest SA.
The company's existing investor Sequoia Capital has also participated in this round, as per a press statement.
Wakefit will utilise the capital for penetration into non-metro areas of the country, with additional capex investment in machinery, manpower addition and factory setups on the cards.
The firm is also planning to set up experience centres in a few cities as a pilot.
The company has recently expanded its product portfolio in home solutions, apart from mattresses, pillows and mattress protectors. The range now includes furniture such as beds (cots), sofas, wardrobes, coffee tables and other furnishing.
“The home solutions segment in India is largely unorganised thereby providing an immense potential for disruption," said Manvitha Janagam, investment professional at Verlinvest.
Incorporated in 2016, Bengaluru-based Wakefit was founded by Ankit Garg and Chaitanya Ramalingegowda.
Prior to setting up Wakefit, IIT Roorkee alumnus Garg worked at Bayer Chemicals as a management trainee while Ramalingegowda, an MBA from the Indian School of Business, had stints at Cognizant Technology Solutions, Tapzo, YourStory Media, his LinkedIn profile states.
Wakefit currently sells its products online and via e-commerce sites Amazon, Flipkart and Pepperfry.
The firm has a current strength of around 600 employees and aims to increase manpower to 3,000 employees by March next year.
The company claims it has set up factories in Pune, Delhi, Jodhpur, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
Wakefit generated net sales of Rs 199 crore for 2019-20 as against Rs 80 crore a year before.
It raised Rs 65 crore in its Series A round of funding in December 2018.
Mattress makers
The mattress market, which is highly unorganised in India, has players such as Duroflex, Sleepwell, Sheela Foam Ltd and Kurl-on.
These companies are seeking a pie of India’s mattress industry, which is estimated to grow at an annualised pace of 8-10% to Rs 13,000-14,000 crore by 2020-21 from Rs 8,500-9,000 crore in 2015-16, an investor presentation by Sheela Foam shows.
Several players have raised funding from institutional investors in the recent past.
In October 2018, mid-market consumer-focused PE firm Lighthouse Advisors Pvt. Ltd invested Rs 160 crore ($22 million then) in Duroflex, which has a strong presence in south India.
In October last year, 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.
A few publicly listed players have also placed inorganic bets as part of their overall expansion strategy. In July last year, Sheela Foam acquired a majority stake in Spanish company Interplasp SL for about $46.7 million to expand in Europe.
Earlier in April 2019, Kurl-on bought Pune-based Spring Air Bedding Company India Ltd, which markets its products under the brand Spring Air and Englander.
