Urban Ladder in talks to raise $30 m

BENGALURU: Online furniture store Urban Ladder Home Décor Solutions Pvt Ltd is in advanced talks with existing and new investors to raise $25-30 million, a move that will give it the firepower to fend off competition from the likes of Pepperfry and Livspace, as well as fund its offline foray.

Existing investors Kalaari Capital, SAIF Partners and Sequoia Capital are likely to pool in ₹100 crore, while the rest will be invested by one new investor, two people aware of the development said on condition of anonymity.

“The existing investors had already committed about ₹100 crore to fund its offline expansion. They are getting one new investor on board in this round who will pour another ₹100 crore or so,” said one of the two people cited above.

Mint could not ascertain the name of the new investor.

Urban Ladder declined to comment. “We don’t have any comments on this. We will update you whenever we have news to share,” a company spokesperson said in an email response.

Founded in 2012 by Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore alumni Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa, Urban Ladder has so far raised $77 million from Kalaari Capital, Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners, Steadview Capital, TR Capital and Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus at Tata Sons, and $3 million in venture debt from Trifecta Capital.

Its last equity funding was a $50-million round in April 2015.

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