Furniture rental company receives funding
The COVID 19 had a disastrous impact on the world economy. There was nothing happening in the world, the only news which used to come was of people dying and how the health system had crippled and exposed many faults the sector had. People were dying and there were no hospital beds available for the patients. Nobody knew what was happening in the world and the only consideration of the world leaders was how to save the world. The economy had fallen down and the businesses were stagnant with no customers out to buy a product.
The world was under lockdown and only those businesses were able to function which had an online presence, thus showing that to operate and function in the world post COVID, a business needs to have an online technological platform. The lockdown taught us that technology is the new fuel that runs in the world. To be able to move ahead, one needs to be technology adaptive, and to be able to have one’s business be successful and functional in the long room, technological and online presence is required.
But now, situations are changing. The businesses have started to come into operations and customers are getting back in the market. The economy is now reviving and some motion can be seen. Now, with everything going back on track, startups have also started their rounds of funding, mergers, and takeovers. Every day, new news regarding the same can be seen. For startups the funding rounds are very important as it is through these fundings, it can be inferred about how promising and attractive the startup looks to the investors. The rounds of funding also determine the scale of operations a startup will be able to conduct.
Furniture rental startup:
A piece of new news has come again regarding the funding. A furniture rental startup Furlenco has raised funds of USD 140 million as announced on July 05, 2021. The amount raised was a mixture of both debt and equity, with USD 120 million raised in debt and USD 20 million in equity. The round of funding in which this amount was raised was the Series D round of funding and was led by Zinnia Global Fund, a Mauritius-based investment company. The other participants of the round were the existing investors CE Investors and Lightbox Ventures. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Dewan PN Chopta & Co acted as the advisors of the transaction.
The startup plans to use the funds received in the expansion of the company as it has plans to expand its operations in South Asia and even try to expand in the international market. It is also planning to invest in design and generate a revenue of USD 300 million in the next five years. According to a noted data platform, the total funds raised by the startup have come up to USD 240 million with many noted names in its investors list like BlackSoil, Aditya Burman of Dabur, Rangoli Resorts, Chowdry Associates, Beeline, notable actor of Bollywood Aamir Khan, Gautam Radhakrishnan of Double Prime, Kris Gopalakrishnan of Infosys.
Started in 2012, Furlenco is an online furniture rental company. It was founded by Ajith Mohan Karimpana and was registered as Kieraya Furnishing Solutions Pvt Ltd. The startup is a subscription-based online rental platform that is engaged in offering furniture from different categories like beds, living room furniture, dining table, study furniture, workstations and many others. It has even broadened its offering by entering rental appliances like laptops, smartphones, kitchen appliances, washing rooms. It has also started renting two-wheelers, gaming consoles, entertainment and fitness pieces of equipment.
A bed can be rented as low as USD 9 and a laptop at USD 40. The startup has three-day delivery and no additional price is charged for deep cleaning of items. The startup follows the ideology that to live better now without waiting for a better future, it is better to rent and create one’s dream home. It also follows that to have a dream of a good home, it is not always required to buy, instead, rent it out. It is there with the customers when they want to evolve, and upgrade.
It also gives the option of pausing one’s subscriptions and helps in relocating for free. Its furniture is designed by an award-winning team and comes with many attractive offers like swapping furniture when required. The Bengaluru based startup is operating in 13 Indian cities – Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Jaipur, Mysuru, Ahmedabad, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Noida and Bengaluru. The startup claims to have furnished more than 1.70 lakh homes since its formation. It is also in partnership with an Indian startup NoBroker, which is backed by General Atlantic.
The chief executive and founder of the startup, Ajith Mohan Karimpana said that with the changing lifestyle, the needs of the urban Indians are also changing when it comes to their homes. He further said that the furniture industry needs some changes and there is a lot of scope for innovation in the B2C sector. The startup is planning to change the furniture sector by introducing all it has planned for the future.
Ritesh Abbi of Zinnia Global Fund said that they are excited and pumped up to work with Furlenco, as it is engaged in transforming the furniture industry’s offerings. The startup has strong leadership and is expected to grow to great heights.
The rental market was at a downfall because of the COVID 19, but it is an emerging field and any new changes and innovations in this sector will always be welcomed.
Edited by Tanish Sachdev
