Urban Ladder raises ₹102 cr in funds

Online furniture store Urban Ladder has raised Rs102 crore from existing investors at a time when the company is seeking to evolve into a brand and build a strong offline presence through brick and mortar stores, according to documents available with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

Kalaari Capital, which has remained invested in Urban Ladder since August 2012, pooled in ₹30.64 crore, while another early investor, SAIF Partners, put in ₹30.46 crore in this round. Steadview Capital, which has also invested in Flipkart, Quikr and Ola, among others, pumped in ₹27.16 crore while Sequoia Capital chipped in with ₹13.58 crore, according to the documents.

Mint reported on 20 January that Urban Ladder was in talks to raise about Rs200 crore—half of which would be pumped in by existing investors.

The value of the company’s shares has increased 26.4% from its last fund-raising of $50 million in April 2015, signalling the days of frothy valuations are over.

The firm’s shares were priced at ₹19,167 in the current round as against ₹15,160 during its last fund-raise.

Urban Ladder declined to comment.

Founded in 2012 by IIM Bangalore alumni Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa, Urban Ladder had raised $77 million in equity funding from Kalaari Capital, Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners, Steadview Capital, TR Capital and Ratan Tata, and $3 million in venture debt from Trifecta.

According to documents available with the RoC, Urban Ladder posted a threefold increase in losses for the year ended 31 March 2016 on account of higher employee and advertising expenses, while revenue from operations increased about two-and-a-half times.

Revenue from operations for the last fiscal stood at ₹34.4 crore as against ₹13 crore a year earlier, while losses surged to ₹181.3 crore from ₹58.5 crore.