For Indian e-commerce players, home decor is a nascent business but it has been growing at a faster rate compared to other categories. Home decor and furnishing segment is gaining acceptance among young buyers online as there is no confusion or challenges related to size, price or brand. It is becoming more of an impulsive buying like apparels.

The category, which includes furniture, decor, kitchen, hardware and services, is growing at 700 per cent annually and is likely to reach close to $2 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) in the next two years.

Besides the opportunities, this segment accounts to low damages and return (goods returned by the consumer at the doorstep) as compared to others with less than 2 percent.

Lets look at the top 7 startups that are making difference in decor and furnishing segment.

1. LivSpace

Livspace, was launched in December 2014 by Anuj Srivastava, Ramakant Sharma and Shagufta Anurag and provides end-to-end home design and decor service provider and curated marketplace for home owners and designers that lets customers discover thousands of interior designs by color, material and style.

The startup secured USD 8 million funding from Helion Ventures, Jungle Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners for focusing on the expansion plans, innovation in its mobile platform and design enhancement for its product. Prior to that it has also raised, USD 4.6 million series A funding from the same investors last year.

It acquired YoFloor, a mobile platform that offers a virtual trial for home design decisions early this month.

2. FabFurnish

Fabfurnish has got just almost everything that you’d require to make your home a wow-worthy, pleasant haven to live in. The company was launched in March 2012 by Vaibhav Aggarwal, Vikram Chopra and Mehul Agrawal.

Products are sold under several private label brands, including Fab Home, KingSelect, Elmwood, Blossoms and Rocca, in addition to national and international brands.

FabFurnish is mainly funded by Rocket Internet and Kinnevik who have invested more than $30 million. It has recently evolved into a curated content play for home products.

3. UrbanLadder

Bengaluru-based online furniture and home décor company UrbanLadder was co-founded in July 2012 by Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa, it is a curated marketplace for furniture that is backed with more than USD 75 million from investors like Sequoia Capital, Steadview Capital, SAIF Partners, Ratan Tata etc.

It has recently released an app that can design your room before buying furniture. With over 4000 products and 35 categories, at present, Urban Ladder delivers to 12 cities in India which includes Pune, Cochin Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Surat, and Mangalore apart from the six metros.

4. Stitchwood

Stitchwood, founded by IITB-IIMA duo Ajit Shegaonkar and Vikas Nair, provides customised furniture based on customers’ requirements. They had earlier raised $100K in their seed round from Ajeet Khurana (who also participated in the current round) and other investors.

Stitchwood, recently announced that they had raised $400K in an angel round from members of Powai Lake Ventures and a few individual angel investors. Most of their orders are from Mumbai and Pune.

5. Pepperfry

Pepperfry.com is India’s largest furniture and home online marketplace headquartered in Mumbai. A managed marketplace, Pepperfry is known for its differentiated product range which offers over 80,000+ products across categories like Furniture, Home Décor, Kitchen & Dining, etc.

Pepperfry which was founded by former eBay executives Ambareesh Murty and Ashish Shah in 2011. The company claims to have about 2.5 million unique monthly visitors and more than 1,000 merchants on its marketplace.

It has recently received $100M investment from Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

6. HomeLane

Bengaluru-based startup HomeLane.com was founded in 2014 by former Pearson CEO Srikanth Iyer, along with a former colleague Rama Harinath. It assists homeowners with customizable home solutions including kitchens, wardrobes, entertainment and vanity units.

Founded in 2014, HomeLane.com is present in six cities and has 200 employees. It raised $4.5 million in funding from Sequoia Capital in February. It has recently received funding of $50 million from Sequoia Capital and has acquired technology startup Doowup for an undisclosed amount.

7. Mebelkart

Mebelkart was founded in 2012 by Rahul Agrawal, Nikhil Saraf and Ranjeet Vimal. This Bangalore based startup is selling 50,000+ furniture and home decor products and provides a range of products including Bean bags, Seating, Home furniture, Kids furniture, Office Furniture and Décor.

Mebelkart claims to have made a 40% month on month growth since inception and boasts of getting around 100 orders per day and Gross Merchandise Value of more than Rs. 50,00,000 per month.

It has recently raised $20 Million as investment from AskMe in exchange of stake exceeding 75%.

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