Pepperfry raises Rs 210 cr from investors; aims to cater to 20 million customers by 2020

Online furniture marketplace Pepperfry has raised Rs 210 crore in a fresh round of funding from current investors Goldman Sachs, Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and Zodius Technology Fund.

This is the largest investment raised by a vertical-focused, pure-play e-commerce company in India in 2016.

The funds will be used to scale Pepperfry's logistics and service network and to expand the footprint of Pepperfry Studios (experience centres), it said in a statement.

Over three million customers have transacted on the platform in the last five years, it added.

The latest round brings the total funds raised by the company to US $160 million.

Founded by former eBay executives, Ambareesh Murty and Ashish Shah, the Mumbai-based company had raised US $100 million in July in 2015.

It clocked gross sales of Rs 1,000 crore in March 2016 and aims to triple this by March 2018.

With over 10,000 merchants, Pepperfry operates through 17 fulfilment hubs and has a delivery fleet of over 400 vehicles.

So far, Pepperfry has launched 10 Pepperfry Studios in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Bengaluru.

"In these next few months, Pepperfry Studio coverage will be extended into tier II and III towns. Also, the logistics network will expand to 1,000-plus cities," it said.

Pepperfry CEO Murty said the company aims to cater to 20 million customers by 2020. "We are doing this through a differentiated, profitable business model and I thank our investors for believing in the team," he added.

The furniture market in India is unorganised to a large extent. In the online category, Pepperfry competes with the likes of Ratan Tata-backed Urban Ladder as well players like Flipkart and Amazon.