Furniture Ecommerce WoodenStreet Bags $3 Mn For Global Expansion

Jaipur-based online custom furniture platform WoodenStreet has raised $3 Mn in Series A funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN) fund and Rajasthan Venture Capital Funds (RVCF). The company is looking to raise this latest funding to increase its footprint, both domestically and globally.

WoodenStreet was launched as an online furniture and home accessories platform in 2015 by Lokendra Ranawat, Dinesh Pratap Singh, Virendra Ranawat and Vikas Baheti. Over the years, it has adopted a more omnichannel approach with over 25 experience stores. Moreover, the company’s ecommerce venture also caters to the orders from over 100 cities across India.

In its latest press release, the company claimed that it is in line to close 2020 with a revenue of INR 100 Cr. The new investment would allow the company to “emerge as a leading global Home Decor brand,” with more than 50 experience stores across the globe over the next two years, leading to INR 300 Cr revenue.

Recently, the Jaipur-based startup had also ventured into technology-enabled furniture buying experiences by investing in virtual reality and 3D visualisation. The company believes that this new feature would come in handy to cater to the customer’s growing digital consumption habits in the post-Covid era.

Prior to this, the company had raised close to $1 Mn in Series A funding round from RVCF in 2018. The company had planned to use the capital to expand into newer markets. It had managed to open 20 new stores across India using the fund. The company also believes that its lates investment is also a great initiative to give voice to local brands.

“With an increase in import duties, home-grown brands can utilise such investments in building themselves up and shape a better tomorrow under the ‘Make in India’ umbrella,” WoodenStreet added.

Furniture Ecommerce Comes Back To Business

Several reports highlighted that the Covid-19 fallout may lead to customers preferring to spend only on essentials rather than luxury items. Even market research firm Capgemini Research, said that 50% of customers are expecting a decrease in their furniture spending, whereas around 23% are expecting an increase in such purchases.

Despite that, furniture ecommerce platforms have been noticing an uptick due to work-from-home becoming a norm. Pepperfry cofounder and COO Ashish Shah told Inc42 that the company has managed to recover 60-65% of the sale volume it was catering to in March 2020, before the nationwide lockdown was announced. However, the average order value has remained the same.

Shah highlighted that this sales recovery has been solely through their website, even though it has over 60 studios, which used to make up for 38% of the total sales for Pepperfry before the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the company is not doubtful about the footfalls in their retail outlet.

Even furniture rental platforms like Furlenco and RentoMojo have also been gaining their business again. Furlenco’s Ajith Karimpana said the company expects to recover back to their March’s metrics within 3-4 weeks of the lockdown being lifted completely.

RentoMojo’s CEO and founder Geetansh Bamania were candid that the company did see a dip as people were not sure about when deliveries would be made during the lockdown. However, the volumes have now started ramping up now.

Currently, the disruption in supply and logistics has also been hampering businesses. Both Furlenco and Pepperfry have been impacted by the reserve migration of their workforce, which constitute most of their workforce. However, the companies have still been managing their operations.