The makers of the adhesive brand fevicol, Pidilite has led a $40 million funding round in the online furniture retailer Pepperfry. The company aims to invest on new-age companies to complement its core product. It also co-invested in Home Lane, an online interior design company, towards the end of 2019.
Pidilite, and many such companies, are investing on startups to get exposure of new clients, market, products, technology, etc. Companies like Danone, Godrej Consumer, Marico, Coca Cola, etc. have invested in such startups.
The existing investors of Pepperfry, Goldman Sachs, Norwest Venture Partners, State Street Advisors and Bertelsmann India, participated in the Series F Round too. A senior executive of the Mumbai-headquartered company said that Pepperfry may see an investment upto $40 million capital infusion in the upcoming time.
The homegrown e-furniture marketplace is getting ready for a potential initial public offer in the next financial year, as Pidilite becomes the first strategic investor to come on board with Pepperfry. Ambareesh Murthy, co-founder of Pepperfry, said, “In India, there could have been very few partners we could have thought of that compliments us the way Pidilite does. Fevicol is a great brand. They have extensive knowledge of the furniture trade, have deep relationships with carpenters and other market stakeholders of our eco-system.”
Supposedly, the funds will be used to expand marketing, doubling Pepperfry’s offline retail footprint. The aim is to target 150 stores by next fiscal year to emerge into other categories of business like mattresses.
“Including the Pidilite round, the company has so far in various rounds raised $235 million from institutional investors. None of the investors have cashed out till now. All of the capital that we raised so far has been primary, going directly towards growing the business.” Murthy said.
Pepperfry expects to reduce the recorded losses of Rs. 185 crore of the financial year 2019, to Rs. 100 crore this financial year. “By fair estimates, we should be able to turn in a profit by June-October 2020,” said Murthy.
Murthy added further, “We have given it a thought. But that is something that is not currently on our plans. We would rather look at adding categories such as Packing and Moving, Pest Control and Furniture Cleaning Services on our platform.”
