Interior design solutions provider HomeLane raises $8.1 mn in bridge round

Bengaluru-based Homevista Decor and Furnishings, which operates an interior design solutions marketplace HomeLane, has raised Rs 60 crore ($8.1 million as per current exchange rates) in a bridge funding round.

The round was led by Stride Ventures, which made a Rs 20 crore ($2.73 million) debt investment, a statement said. Returning investors Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, Evolvence India and JSW Ventures also participated in the round, with a Rs 40 crore ($5.45 million) equity investment.  

The company said it will deploy the fresh capital to enter new markets, with a focus on non-metros, while strengthening its brand presence across existing markets. A part of the funds will be used to improve HomeLane’s technology to provide consumers a better interior service experience by focusing on its proprietary 3D design platform Spacecraft, the statement said. 

Including this round, HomeLane has raised Rs 370 crore in the past six years. 

Earlier this month, the company received a commitment for Rs 27.86 crore ($3.72 million at the time) from Evolvence India Fund, JSW Ventures, Sequoia Capital India and Accel Partners. 

In December last year, it secured $30 million from Evolvence, Pidilite Group, FJ Labs, Sequoia, Accel and JSW Ventures. 

“Our mission is to make home interiors easy for the world, and this hasn’t changed during the pandemic. Virtual meetings, powered by our 3D design & collaboration platform SpaceCraft, have enabled us to meet customers and deliver superior design experience to them while practising social distancing. We believe that there's still a sizable gap in the market that HomeLane can address,” Srikanth Iyer, CEO and founder of HomeLane, said. 

The company was founded in 2014 by Iyer and Rama Harinath along with entrepreneur-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 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 customise the designs, while also providing a 45-day delivery guarantee for fit-outs. 

The company claims to have delivered over 9,000 homes across the country while servicing more than 10 cities through 19 experience centres.  

HomeLane recorded Rs 230.4 crore operating revenues for the year ended March 31, 2020, a growth of 130% over its revenues of Rs 99.95 crore during the previous financial year. The company is on track to reach EBITDA breakeven by April 2021, it said.

“With the online home decor market gaining momentum in recent years, HomeLane's technology-oriented approach has made interior designing much more approachable,” Ishpreet Gandhi, founder and managing partner of lead investor Stride Ventures, said.  

Set up in 2019, Stride Ventures provides debt solutions to growth stage startups. It launched its maiden fund the same year, with a target corpus of Rs 500 crore. The venture lender said it made the first close of the debut fund in November 2019, with a final target corpus of $70.5 million.

It has backed companies such as used two-wheeler marketplace CredR, logistics marketplace LetsTransport and dairy-tech firm Stellapps.