Pepperfry, an India-based home furnishings product retailer backed by media group Bertelsmann, has received $38.5m in funding from investment manager State Street Corporation, Inc 42 has reported.
Pepperfry operates an e-commerce marketplace that sells products such as furniture, cookware, appliances, lighting equipment and bedroom and bathroom fittings. It has about 400,000 registered users.
The company has now raised approximately $199m in funding in total. Its early funding came from venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), which then joined Bertelsmann to invest $16.1m in Pepperfry through its 2014 series C round.
Investment banking firm Goldman Sachs led Pepperfry’s $100m series D round the following year, participating alongside Bertelsmann unit Bertelsmann India Investments, NVP and Zodius Technology Fund. All four returned for a $32m round in 2016.
The funding will go to research and development, as the company explores adding virtual and augmented reality technology to its platform. It also plans to strengthen its range of own brand products and expand its chain of brick-and-mortar experience centres, which currently number 26.
Pepperfry co-founder Ashish Shah said: “As far as strategy is concerned, the furniture marketplace will continue to pursue its omni-channel strategy. A lot of the investment will also make its way into the AR/ VR space to enhance the customer experience through augmented reality and virtual reality.”
State Street made the investment through its State Street Global Advisors vehicle. Anandh Hari, State Street Global Advisors’ managing director of private equity, will join the company’s board of directors in connection with its investment.