Online furniture store UrbanLadder raises $1 mn from IndoUS Venture

Bangalore-based Descasa Decor Online, promoter of online furniture store UrbanLadder, has raised $1 million, in what appears to be a Series A round of funding led by IndoUS Venture Partners. The investment has been made from the Bangalore-based venture capital investor’s new fund, which has a target corpus of $150 million (the fund is yet to be formally closed). UrbanLadder plans to used the money raised to strengthen its team, build customer service infrastructure and enhance its technology.

Founded this January by former ACK Media COO Ashish Goel and former Yahoo! executive Rajiv Srivatsa, UrbanLadder offers a range of furniture for the home including dining and coffee tables, shoe racks, bookcases, chairs and benches. Most of the products on offer are pretty standard, compared to what is already available in the market. However, the store does have some interesting things going on in what its dubs its ‘Exclusives’ section. For instance, there’s a neat steel frame study chair lined with denim from its D’Nimes collection and a bedside table made from reclaimed wood (in photo) from its Kaleido range that we’re tempted to add to our shopping cart.

The pricing is fairly competitive. A mango wood, six seater dining table with chairs (made from sheesham wood) is available for Rs 25,999. Though, you can get a much better deal at IndusCraft, the online furniture store run by Jodhpur-based Arihant Art Innovation, where a similar six-seater is available in sheesham wood for Rs 25,800. Apart from IndusCraft, the other online furniture retailers that UrbanLadder will come up against include non-niche ecommerce sites such as Jabong, owned by Gurgaon-based Xerion Retail, and Pepperfry from Mumbai-based TrendSutra Platform Services.

“Home décor is a large and under-served opportunity. This market requires solutions that offer customers value and requires affordable products with a convenient buying experience,” IndoUS Venture Partners managing director Vani Kola said in a press release issued yesterday.  The next two months will see the company launch new products, including sofas and beds and other specialty furniture like easy chairs and bunk beds.

Image courtesy: UrbanLadder