Wakefit was valued at Rs 1900 crore last year
November 11, 2021 / 12:17 PM IST
Mattress and furniture online retailer, Wakefit said on November 11 that it has raised Rs 200 crore led by Susquehanna International Group – an investor in firms such as ByteDance and Mobile Premier League.
The round, in which existing backers – Sequoia India and Verlinest – also participated, valued Wakefit at Rs 2,800 crore as compared to Rs 1,900 crore in December 2020.
Founded by Ankit Garg and Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Wakefit was initially only selling mattresses, but later expanded into furniture as well. The segment already accounts for more than 15 percent of its revenue in less than two years. It sold over 1 lakh mattresses in October, and is on track to generate Rs 700 crore in revenue in FY22.
“The infusion comes at a strategic point in time for us, as we drill down on large-scale expansion across the country. As the number one sleep player in India (online), we are aiming to replicate our success in the home and furnishings space too. The Series C round will help us broaden our category offerings, as well as create avenues for deeper geographical penetration,” co-founder and CEO Garg said.
Wakefit will use the money to set up offline experience centres and manage logistics, supply chain and increase marketing besides hiring across levels.
It will expand its product line to include lighting, decor, furnishings, and set up state-of-the-art factories and warehouses.
Wakefit is profitable at a time when most online brands are seeing their customer acquisition costs shoot up due to rising competition and social media advertising rates going up.
Wakefit’s funding is the latest example of the funding boom at large but more specifically for digital-first consumer brands, or so called D2C (direct to consumer) brands, which sell via their own websites and apps as well as online retailers such as Flipkart and Amazon. An Avendus report last year estimated the India D2C opportunity to be $100 billion in the next 5-7 years.
MyGlamm, a D2C makeup retailer armed with acquisitions became a unicorn earlier this week, valued at over a billion dollars
M. Sriram
