Exclusive: Online Furniture Seller pepperfry Bags $40 Mn In Debt Funding From 47 Investors

IPO-bound online furniture marketplace pepperfry has picked up around $40 Mn in a new round of debt funding from Norwest Venture, General Electric Pension Trust, along with 45 family businesses and trusts. 

Strategic HR consultant Hema Ravichandar and V Ravichandar, along with Chhaya Assets Private Limited, Burjorjee Family Trust, are among the few who have invested around INR 7.5 Cr in the company.

The new round also comes a couple of months after the Mumbai-based online furniture and home products marketplace tweaked its business model as it looks to be profitable and IPO ready. 

The startup has introduced a new version of the franchise model that seeks to bring younger, design-focused entrepreneurs into its omnichannel model. For the online business, pepperfry is focusing on modular furniture and the fast-growing mattress segment. 

Founded in January 2012 by Ambareesh Murty and Ashish Shah, pepperfry has to date raised around $245.3 Mn funding from investors such as Norwest Venture Partners, Bertelsmann, Goldman Sachs, State Street Global Advisors. 

In February this year, Pepperfry picked up $5 Mn in a debt round from InnoVen Capital.

In FY20, pepperfry posted operating revenue of INR 246.03 Cr, a 27% increase from INR 193.26 Cr in FY19. The startup managed to narrow its loss to INR 117.4 Cr in FY20, a 33.3% drop from INR 183.49 Cr in FY19. 

pepperfry competes against the likes of WoodenStreet, Reliance acquired Urban Ladder, FabFurnish, Homelane, Walmart-owned Flipkart, among others. 

pepperfry gearing for its public listing now joins the huddle of Pinelabs, edtech unicorn BYJU’s, food delivery aggregator Swiggy, Ola, who will be filings their DRHP in the coming months.

As per a Redseer report, the online furniture was valued at $700 Mn in CY2020, a mere 3.5% of the overall $20 Bn market size.  Another report by Research and Markets estimates that India’s overall furniture market is anticipated to reach $37.72 Bn by the end of 2026. Based on the projection and given the current market share of 3.5%, the online household furniture market is likely to hit at least $1.32 Bn by that time.

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