Inc42 Daily Brief
Stay Ahead With Daily News & Analysis on India’s Tech & Startup Economy
U.S investment bank, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is leading a $100Mn investment in Mumbai-based Pepperfry.com, an online home and furniture marketplace.
Other investors participating in this investment round includes Zodius Technology Fund, Bertelsmann India Investments and Norwest Venture Partners.
Ambareesh Murthy, Co-Founder Pepperfry said that the company will be using the recently raised funds to expand its logistics footprint in over 300 towns and for ‘quadrupling’ the size of its technology team. The raised funds will also be used to add new experience centres and accelerate digital marketing.
Pepperfry was founded by Ambareesh Murty and Ashish Shah in January 2012. Company is known for its differentiated product offering of over 80,000 items across categories like Furniture, Home Décor, Kitchen & Dining, etc. The website has over a thousand merchant partners, who can showcase their design skills, craftsmanship and service orientation to customers across India and the world. Also, for many merchants, it has become the primary source of their income. It also owns a fleet of 350 delivery vehicles.
According to The Wall Street bank, India’s ecommerce market is about $20Bn today, which is just one-tenth of China’s and a fraction of the U.S market for online goods. Global investors are frequently investing in Indian startups, pointing towards the promising future of Indian ecommerce.
Earlier, Pepperfry had raised about $30Mn in funding from Norwest Venture Partners and Bertelsmann. Company mainly competes with Urban Ladder and FabFurnish.
Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.