Home Interior Solutions Design Café Raises $25 Million In Funding

19 Nov 2021 CW Team

Existing investors WestBridge Capital and Sixth Sense Ventures lead the round, according to the firm. Along with a few family offices, early investor Fireside Ventures took part in the round. This brings the company's total Series B investment to Rs 366 crore, which includes Rs 200 crore raised in 2018. The money will be used to expand into other cities, according to the company. Over the following 18 months, it intends to be present in the top ten cities.

Design Café, founded in 2015 by Gita Ramanan and Shezan Bhojani, operates on a vertically integrated company strategy, employing its own designers, workers, and producing all of its goods in Bengaluru.

It presently has locations in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, with plans to open more locations in Chennai and Thane. In a statement, the firm said it plans to build more experience centres in Bengaluru.

Design Café is close to breaking even, with an annual sales run rate of about Rs 180 crore, according to the company.

Over the following 24 months, the firm wants to increase its gross annual booking rate to Rs 600-700 crore. Growth in the Home sector, which the business feels has the potential to be a billion-dollar market, will account for a substantial portion of this, according to the company.

In India, the home improvement and design business is a $20 billion sector that is entirely fragmented and unorganised.

“Profitability in this industry has always been a challenge, but Design Cafe’s increased focus on standardised 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.