Furniture Rental Startup Furlenco Raises INR 9 Cr In Debt-Funding

Bengaluru-based Furlenco has raised around INR 9 Cr ($1.26 Mn) in two rounds of debt-funding held in July and August 2019. The furniture rental startup got its funding from eight different investors. 

Among the investors, Chowdry Associates in August invested around INR 7 Cr. The investing company bought 700 debentures at a face value of INR 1 lakh, amounting to the total amount for a time peroiod of 12 months. It is to be noted here that the same investor in March 2019 bought preference shares of the startup, amounting close to INR 6.86 Cr. 

According to a Ministry of Corporate Affairs filing accessed by Inc42, the company in July has issued non-convertible debentures worth INR 2 Cr for a time period of 36 months to: 

• United Oxygen Company Pvt Ltd bought 100 debentures at a face value of INR 1 lakh, amounting to total INR 1 Cr 
• Gautam Radhakrishnan bought 30 debentures at a face value of INR 1 lakh, amounting to total INR 30 lakh 
• Prabhakar Kanade bought 28 debentures at a face value of INR 1 lakh, amounting to total INR 28 lakh 
• Rajnesh N. Shah bought 22 debentures at a face value of INR 1 lakh, amounting to total INR 22 lakh 
• Cred’s founder, Kunal R. Shah bought 15 debentures at a face value of INR 1 lakh, amounting to total INR 15 lakh 
• Nikita Mandot bought three debentures at a face value of INR 1 lakh, amounting to total INR 3 lakh 
• Musaed Noorani bought two debentures at a face value of INR 1 lakh, amounting to total INR 2 lakh 

The furniture-rental company earlier this year had raised INR 40.46 Cr in a Series C funding round from Lightbox Ventures, Crescent Enterprises and others.

Founded by Ajith Mohan Karimpana in 2011, the startup is an online platform which offers furniture for homes on a subscription basis in metro cities like Bengaluru, Delhi/NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, and Pune.

Earlier, Furlenco had filed an operational income of INR 21.16 Cr in FY17, a 204%. increase from FY16. The company’s total income in FY17 stood at INR 24.34 Cr.

Where Does Furlenco Stand In India’s Furniture Market?

A BCG report estimated that since 2010, INR 23K Cr in venture capital funds has been invested in the sharing economy globally. The furniture rental market is also expected to grow at a robust rate over the forecast period — 2017-2024. In India, the market for furniture rental is estimated at around $800-850 Mn.

Of India’s total INR 1,294,06 Cr furniture market, 85-90% is unorganised and offline and online furniture retailers like Urban Ladder, Furlenco, Rentomojo and Pepperfry cater to just 2% of the market. 

Furlenco has raised funds after a long dry phase and the company might use these funds to significantly scale up and ensure it wins the war for survival in the furniture rental segment.

Furlenco’s competitor Rentomojo in September announced that the company is raising INR 27.74 Cr from Samsung Venture arm and Mitsui Sumitomo in its Series C funding round. RentoMojo has previously raised INR 77.6 Cr in the same round from Chiratae Ventures, Accel Partners, BCIP Venture Associates, GMO VenturePartners, Bain Capital, and Renaud Laplanche.