India-based online furniture marketplace Pepperfry has received $40m in a series F round led by adhesives manufacturier Pidilite Industries, the Economic Times reported today.
The round included Bertelsmann India Investments, a local corporate venturing vehicle for media conglomerate Bertelsmann, and investment bank Goldman Sachs, along with venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and asset manager State Street Advisors.
Founded in 2011, Pepperfry runs an online marketplace and a network of brick-and-mortar stores that sells items such as furniture, mattresses, homeware, décor and lighting fixtures. It currently lists more than 1.2 million products and has more than 60 million registered users.
The funding will support marketing activities and the doubling of the company’s retail footprint to 150 stores, as well as an expansion of its supply chain capabilities and increased focus on emerging categories such as mattresses.
An unnamed senior executive told ET that Pepperfry may look to raise another $40m in the coming months. The paper also suggested the company could be seeking to go public in its next financial year.
Pepperfry has now raised $235m in funding, according to co-founder Ambareesh Murty. State Street Corporation, the investment manager that owns State Street Advisors, supplied $31.5m in series E1 funding for the company in early 2018, an investment reported at the time as $38.5m.
Goldman Sachs led Pepperfry’s $32m series E round in 2016, investing alongside Bertelsmann India Investments, NVP and Zodius Technology Fund. The four had already taken part in a $100m series D round the year before that had also been led by Goldman Sachs.
Bertelsmann India Investments and NVP had previously joined forces for the company’s $15m series C round in 2014, after the latter had supplied $5m in series A funding in 2011 and a further $8m two years later.
