Interior decor platform HomeLane, B2B foodtech firm HungerBox raise inside rounds

Bengaluru-based Homevista Decor and Furnishings, which operates an interior design solutions marketplace HomeLane, has received a commitment for Rs 27.86 crore ($3.72 million) from its existing investors Evolvence India Fund (EIF), JSW Ventures, Sequoia Capital India and Accel.

JSW Ventures will lead the inside round with Rs 10.50 crores ($1.4 million). Evolvence will invest Rs 7.55 crore ($1 million), Sequoia will contribute Rs 6 crore ($802,460) and Accel Rs 3.77 crore ($504,212), the company’s latest regulatory filings showed.

The company has allotted 10 equity shares and 375,586 Series D2 compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) to JSW Ventures at Rs 279.56 per share. 

Evolvence, Sequoia, and Accel have been offered 2,70,075, 2,16,050, and 1,35,025 Series D2 preference shares respectively at 279.56 per share.

The capital will be used for continued operations, further expansion of business and working capital requirements, the filings said.

Post the transaction, Accel will hold a 22.74% stake in the company, Sequoia will own 17.10 %, Evolvence 9.45%, and JSW 2.23%.

According to the filing, the company has been reporting losses for the past four financial years -- Rs 24 crore in 2016-17, Rs 29.28 crore in 2017-2018, Rs 54.86 crore in 2018-2019 and Rs 121.31 crore in 2019-2020.

In its last fundraise, HomeLane secured $30 million from Evolvence, Pidilite Group and FJ Labs in December last year. Sequoia, Accel and JSW Ventures participated in the round. 

Earlier last year, the startup raised a $4.6 million bridge round JSW Ventures, Accel and Sequoia. In June last year, it had struck a $3.5-million deal with Brand Capital, the ad-for-equity investment arm of media firm Bennett, Coleman and Company (BCCL). Previously, it secured $10 million from venture capital firms Accel, Sequoia and RB Investments in December 2017.

The company was founded in 2014 by Srikanth Iyer and Rama Harinath (chief marketing officer), along with entrepreneur and investor duo Krishnan Ganesh and Meena Ganesh.

It offers a virtual design platform and a real-time integrated pricing engine. It allows home buyers to select from hundreds of kitchen, wardrobe or wall-unit combinations with different layouts, designs, colours and finishes. After home buyers place orders, interior designers from HomeLane work with them to help customise the kitchen or wardrobe. HomeLane offers a 45-day delivery guarantee for fit-outs.

HungerBox

Bengaluru-headquartered Eat Good Technologies, which owns and operates B2B (business to business) foodtech service HungerBox, has received commitments to raise Rs 11.67 crore ($1.56 million) from existing investors, according to regulatory filings. 

Returning investors One97 Communications will lead the round with a Rs 8.17 crore ($1.1 million) infusion while mid-market private equity firm Sabre Partners will invest Rs 1.49 crore ($199,277).

Infosys co-founder Senapathy Gopalakrishnan's Pratithi Investment Trust  and angel investor Srihari Kumar will invest Rs 1 crore ($133743) each.

The investment comes in about eight months after the company raised $12 million in a Series B round from Paytm and NPTK Emerging Asia Fund.  Sabre Partners and South Korean investment firm Neoplux participated in the round.

HungerBox had previously raised a Series A round led by Neoplux and Sabre Partners in 2018. 

The company was founded in 2016 by Sandipan Mitra and Uttam Kumar. Mitra had previously founded online food ordering platform Hungry in Bengaluru and sold it to UK based food-tech platform, JustEat. 

He co-founded HungerBox with JustEat colleague Uttam Kumar who served as the national sales head at Rocket Internet backed food ordering platform Foodpanda, later acquired by Ola.

The HungerBox platform allows caterers at large institutions such as information technology parks, hospitals, educational institutes and retail with the ability to track the entire food and beverage operation including food consumption, orders and feedback. For employees, the app provides features such as pre-ordering, live order tracking, digital payments, desk-based ordering, food ordering for meeting rooms, food ordering for organisational events and nutrition tracking.