SAIF, Kalaari provide Series A round for Urban Ladder

The company started operations in July last year and raised $1 million from Kalaari in August 2012. It claims to be the leading online furniture destination in India, and will use the funds to expand product categories and range and strengthen its customer service and technology platform.

"We are on track to achieve our goal to be the largest furniture store, online or offline, in India within the next 18-20 months," Urban Ladder CEO and co-founder Ashish Goel said in a statement.

There has been a growth in home furnishing e-commerce vertical in India, with the launch of Rocket Internet-backed FabFurnish.com in early 2012, Accel Partners and Tiger Global's Zansaar.com, and Norwest Venture Partners portfolio company Pepperfry among others.

"In this category, Urban Ladder has been able to differentiate itself by offering unique and innovative designs and excellent customer experience. We believe that the company has the promise of break-out growth," said Deepak Gaur, managing director at SAIF Partners.

VC firms are looking to invest in verticals as larger horizontal websites such as Flipkart and Snapdeal are in consolidation mode.

"Horizontal plays are likely to achieve much bigger scale, and therefore need more funding for customer acquisition and building out infrastructure," said Subrata Mitra, partner at Accel Partners. "Vertical players need to be sharper in their product differentiation with better margins coming from private labels and own brands."

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• Topics
• South Asia
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• India
• TMT
• SAIF Partners
• Consumer
• Venture