Bangalore-based online furniture store Urban Ladder has finally closed its Series A investment round by raising $5 million from SAIF Partners and existing investor Kalaari Capital. The company plans to use this investment raised to expand its product range, foray into more Indian cities, improve its technology platform and strengthen its customer service experience. Prior to this, Urban Ladder had raised a seed round of $1 million from Kalaari Capital (then IndoUS Venture Partners) in August 2012. There were earlier talks of the company raising an undisclosed amount in Series A round by SAIF Partners in August 2013, however Urban Ladder had told MediaNama that the SAIF investment deal was not closed and they were still in discussion with a few PE firms. Founded in July 2012, Urban Ladder offers home decor products across various furniture categories like beds, sofas, coffee tables, side tables, dining tables and chairs, balcony sets, bookcases, display units, and wall racks, among others. It claims to currently provide more than 500 products across 25 categories and is currently operational in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Pune. It currently offers free shipping for these regions and claims to deliver products within 15 days of the order. The company mentioned that the delivery team also takes care of the installation of the furniture. Other players in this segment include Zansaar which had raised $6 million from Accel Partners and Tiger Global in Feb 2012, Pepperfry which had raised $8 million from Norwest Venture Partners in April 2013, Rocket Internet's FabFurnish, Mebelkart. E-commerce ventures like Amazon India, Snapdeal, HomeShop18, Jabong and Infibeam also offer furniture products.
