The startup plans to use the funds to increase its appearance in the top 10 cities, including new areas such as Chennai and Thane, and its current market base in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and product augmentation & hiring.
The residence improvement and interior design startup is eyeing the $20 Bn disorganized and fragmented industry which also consists of rivals such as Livspace, MS Dhoni-backed Homelane among others.
Design Cafe had earlier grabbed $28.5 Mn in 2018, taking the total Series B round funding to $53.5 Mn.
The organization said it will use the funding for expansion into more cities. It intends to be present in the top 10 cities over the next 18 months.
Established in 2015 by Gita Ramanan and Shezan Bhojani, Design Café has a vertically combined business model, with its own designers, architects, workforce, and a factory in Bengaluru manufacturing all its products.
It currently functions in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad, with new centres set to be started in Chennai and Thane. “The company is also planning to open more experience centres in Bengaluru,” it said in a statement.
“The funds will allow us to take our services and products to more markets, and invest further in technology and people,” chief executive Bhojani said.
Design Café is nearing break even and its yearly revenue run rate is around Rs 180 crore, it said.
The company plans to spread its gross annual booking rate to Rs 600-Rs 700 crores over the next 2 years. A large part of this, the company said, will come from growth in the Home segment, which it considers can be a billion-dollar opportunity.
“We believe that home interiors and improvement is a very large opportunity in India and the problem that Design Cafe addresses is a real consumer need today,” said Sandeep Singhal, co-founder and managing director, WestBridge Capital.
“Profitability in this industry has always been a challenge, but Design Cafe’s increased focus on standardized modular furniture, vertically integrated manufacturing, and a full-stack tech platform, will enable the business to achieve economies of scale,” said Nikhil Vora, founder and CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures.
