Interior design startup Bonito secures pre-Series A funding

Interior home design company Bonito Designs Pvt. Ltd has raised its first round of external funding from early-stage strategic investment fund Tomorrow Capital.

The Bengaluru-based company has raised $6.3 million (Rs 43 crore at current exchange rates) as part of its pre-Series A funding round, said Bonito in a statement.

The company will use the capital to expand its operations and ramp up its production, it said. The company aims to enter Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad soon.

It added that a large portion of the capital will be used for research and development to build processes and delivery know-how to personalise designs for both luxury and budgeted homes.

“The interior designer market in India is unorganised in most parts but a shift is taking place. With new-age customers looking for quality designs, the demand for organised companies like Bonito is on the rise," said Sameer AM, chief executive officer, Bonito Designs.

The funding has given the company more firepower to improve digital infrastructure and expand our product base, he added.

Bonito Designs was founded in 2012 by Sameer and Vathsala CR, who has moved on but has a shareholding in the company. Rickson Dsouza joined as co-founder later.

“Bonito Designs is a brand that uses a process-driven delivery model to provide unique design solutions. The brand’s philosophy – ‘everyone deserves a designer home’ – is what caught our attention," said Rohini Prakash, CEO, Tomorrow Capital.

Tomorrow Capital is a $100-million strategic investment fund focussed on helping early-stage businesses in India and consumer brands in particular, according to its website.

In December last year, the company had co-invested in Generico, a pharmacy retail chain which sells low-cost generic medicines.

Deals in the space

The broader interior design space has seen a bunch of deals in previous years.

Earlier in January, virtual reality-based interior design and contracting firm Flipspaces raised $3.5 million from homegrown private equity firm Carpediem Capital.

In September last year, Bengaluru-based online home décor startup Livspace raised $70 million (around Rs 500 crore) in a Series C round of funding led by private equity firm TPG Growth and investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Another well-funded company in the space is HomeLane, which had raised $10 million (Rs 64 crore) from venture capital firms Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital and RB Investments in December 2017.

Other smaller startups in the space such as MyGubbi and Houssup have also raised their first round of funding earlier.