An investor in Pepperfry, India’s largest online furniture retailer, is in no rush to exit

• In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, Pankaj Makkar, Managing Director, Bertelsmann India Investments said that Pepperfry is on the right path for fast growth.
• Bertelsmann India Investments has been an investor in Pepperfry since 2014.
• Pepperfry which had last raised funding in March 2018, is reportedly looking to raise another $100 million.

Eight-year old online retailer of furniture and home products, Pepperfry, has been one of the market leaders in its segment in India. And its early investors are backing the startup for faster growth and scale.

In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, Pankaj Makkar, Managing Director, Bertelsmann India Investments, who invested in Pepperfry in 2014, said that they are in no hurry to exit from the startup as it’s doing really well.

Pepperfry has been scaling up its businesses and is also looking at achieving its $1 billion Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) target by 2021. With over 6 million customers, Pepperfry has 39 offline studios across 22 cities in India and is launching more.

“Pepperfry has always been ahead of the curve. Its omni-channel strategy of scaling up operations across metros and tier I and II cities, has worked exceptionally well. We are confident that with the right scale and their strong unit economics, Pepperfry will continue to lead the furniture eCommerce space in India,” said Makkar.

The propelling factor in Pepperfry’s journey would be there right selection to be in the e-commerce category unlike in horizontal e-commerce (businesses that sell products from various categories).

“In e-commerce, if you look at horizontal businesses, they play on very small margins but if you look at categories like furniture, they play on very high margins,” said Makkar.

Founded by Ambareesh Murty and Ashish Shah, Pepperfry had last raised a funding of $38.5 million in March 2018. According to reports, the company is also looking at raising another $100 million this year. While its valuation remains undisclosed, it has often been listed as a soonicorn (soon to be unicorn or valued at $1 billion).

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