Home Interiors Startup Design Cafe Raises $28.5 Mn From WestBridge Capital

Bengaluru-based online interior design platform Design Cafe has raised $28.5 Mn (INR 200 Cr) equity-financing round led by private equity firm WestBridge Capital in participation with existing investor Fireside Ventures.

The latest round comes after more than a year when it raised an undisclosed sum in a round led by Fireside Ventures, along with early-stage investors, including Apurva Salarpuria and Siddharth Pansari. Boutique investment bank Sprout Capital acted as the exclusive advisor to the deal.

Design Cafe was founded in 2011, by architects and designers Gita Ramanan and Shezaan Bhojani as a traditional design company. Later, in 2015, the founders pivoted to the online model and launched the digital platform.

The recently raised funds will be used by the company to expand its footprints in the country. There are plans to expand to six cities including Mumbai Delhi/ NCR and Hyderabad by 2019 end.

The Indian home design and decor market was poised to grow from $13 Bn in 2010 to over $45 Bn by the end of 2017.  By 2018, home furnishing market in India is expected to grow at CAGR of 8% by value to reach $5.29 Bn.

In the online home interiors space, Design Cafe competes primarily with Livspace, which recently raised $70 Mn in a Series C funding round led by US-based private equity company  TPG Growth and global investment bank and active investor Goldman Sachs. Other players in the space are Homelane, Urban Ladder, and Pepperfry.

“We have been impressed with DesignCafe’s rapid scaling up and initial success. Their high customer satisfaction rate is an excellent achievement and is a testimony to the company’s deep domain expertise in this sector, hard work and good business judgment,” Sandeep Singhal, managing partner, WestBridge Capital, said.

WestBridge Capital manages assets of about $2 Bn and primarily bets on public companies. Earlier, it has also led investments in other Indian startups this year.

This includes workplace solutions provider IndiQube ($15 Mn, June) and healthcare data analytics startup Innovaccer ($25 Mn, May). WestBridge was also part of Fireside Venture’s $48.4 Mn (INR 340 Cr) anchor fund raised in March this year.

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