Online home inside design platform, HomeLane said it has scooped up Rs 371 crore or $50 million in its Series E round drove by IIFL AMC’s Late Stage Tech Fund, Oman India Joint Investment Fund and Stride Ventures. Existing investors Pidilite, Evolvence, NuVentures, Sequoia and Accel also participated in this round.
Throughout the last seven years, HomeLane has raised more than Rs 765 crore or $104 million. The company said it will use the funds for strategic expansion into newer markets and ramp up innovation as it eyes income targets of Rs 2,500 crore by FY24.
Floated by Srikanth Iyer, Rama Harinath along with K Ganesh and Meena Ganesh, HomeLane helps land owners furnish and install fixtures in their new apartments and houses. HomeLane as of now services 16 cities across the country through 27 experience centers.
HomeLane claims Rs 268 Cr income in FY21
In FY21, the company claims to have recorded an income of Rs 268 crore, up by 16% over last year and left the fiscal with a request book of Rs 820 crore. HomeLane said it expanded its presence from 10 cities in FY20 to 16 cities in FY21 and that it expects to generate revenues of Rs 423 crore and hit EBITDA profitability in FY22.
It recorded cash profitability in November 2020, HomeLane said.
The company claimed that it managed to pare its business losses significantly from a – 36% EBITDA margin in FY20 to a – 21% margin for the year finishing 31 March 2021. Although it merits bringing up that last year, HomeLane had said it was hoping to reach closer to EBITDA breakeven by April 2021.
Importantly, HomeLane is yet to document annual financial statements for FY21.
According to the company, its revenues increased in the last fiscal inferable from a developing consumer demand for branded inside services, reduction in fixed costs, increase in average request value, and packaging of supplementary services with its home inside offerings.
Competition and major actions in furniture rental space
On the competition front, HomeLane competes straightforwardly with Livspace and Flipspaces along with UrbanLadder and Pepperfry. Just this week, Flipspaces raised $2 million in its pre-Series B round drove by a consortium drove by Prashasta Seth, ex-chief boss, IIFL AMC.
One of the early evangelizers of the online furnishings and rental space, UrbanLadder was acquired by Reliance for Rs 182 crore in November 2020 in a distress sale.
LivSpace had raised $90 million in its Series D round in September 2020 which was trailed by Rs 30 crore in an obligation financing round from its existing backer Trifecta Venture Debt a month later.
Pepperfry got Rs 35 crore in an obligation financing round by InnoVen Capital in February this year and was last valued at around $462 million after a Series F subsidizing round worth $40 million drove by Pidilite Industries in February 2020.
