Home interiors company Homelane raises USD 8 million in a bridge funding round from Stride Ventures and existing investors.
Bridge funding is a form of intermediate funding intended to cover a business short-term expenses until long-term funding is secured.
Stride Ventures led this round, participating through debt funding of $3 million in the company, a statement said.
Existing investors Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, Evolvence India, and JSW Ventures also participated, infusing another $5 million in equity, it added.
With this round, HomeLane”s total fund-raising has crossed USD 54 million (Rs 370 crore) in the last six years.
“Our mission is to make home interiors easy for the world, and this hasn’t changed during the pandemic. Virtual meetings, powered by our 3D design and collaboration platform SpaceCraft, have enabled us to meet customers and deliver superior design experience to them while practicing social distancing,” HomeLane.com CEO and founder Srikanth Iyer said.
He added that the company believes that there’s still a sizable gap in the market that HomeLane can address.
HomeLane will deploy the new funds to enter new markets with a greater focus on non-metro expansion while strengthening the brand”s presence across existing markets, the statement said.
Part of the funds will also be deployed to enhance HomeLane’s technology offering to give consumers a better interior service experience by focusing on its proprietary 3D design platform, Spacecraft, it added.
“In the last 5 months, we’ve focused heavily on delivery predictability and safety. However, we also entered 3 new markets during this period Visakhapatnam, Mysore, and Coimbatore. With this round of funding, we are looking to invest in establishing our brand across existing and new markets…” Tanuj Choudhry, Chief Business Officer at HomeLane.com, said.
HomeLane recorded $31 million operating revenues for the year ended March 31, 2020, registering a growth of 130 percent over its revenues of Rs $13 million during the previous fiscal.
The company said it is on track to reach EBITDA break-even by April 2021. HomeLane has a presence across 10 cities with 19 experience centers and over 900 design experts on its tech platform.