Home solutions startup HomeLane.com has acquired an online marketplace of interior design firms Capricoast.com for Rs 90 crore. As part of the deal, the 120-people team of Capricoast will be part of HomeLane. Jawad Ayaz, founder and CEO of Capricoast, will join HomeLane’s board of directors.
HomeLane offers interior design solutions using technology. It has a virtual design platform- SpaceCraft- helps homeowners co-design their homes virtually with the designer, ruling out the requirements of multiple physical meetings and back and forth on designs and real-time pricing. The acquisition will help the company to strengthen its back-end technology like customer acquisition and lifecycle management and will further strengthen HomeLane’s product offering. “This acquisition also marks the beginning of HomeLane’s next phase of growth and expansion, given that we have already achieved operational profitability,” said Srikanth Iyer, co-founder and CEO of HomeLane in a statement.
HomeLane, till date, has raised about $15 million in venture funding from investors like Sequoia Capital, Aarin, Growth Story and Baring PE. Founded in 2014, the company has a presence in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and NCR. HomeLane.com claims to have delivered 1700 projects since its inception.
Competition
The online interior design space has gained considerable attention in past one year. HomeLane competes with companies like Livspace, Renomania, Foyr, Urban Ladder, Pepperfry- to name a few. In June, online home interior design and execution platform Livspace said that it will invest Rs 70 crore in its designers partnership initiatives across different segments, including onboarding & certifying freelance designers and studios, engagement programs, infrastructure & expansion across top metros to grow its network. In June, it said that it will invest Rs 25 crore to expand its flagship design centers.
In 2016, Home decor and furniture e-tailer Urban Ladder was testing ‘Urban Interiors’, an interior designing service that helps customers to furnish their homes through assistance from independent designers. The designer will help customers browse products and create custom interiors according to their requirements.
In 2015, Sundeep Malhotra, who stepped down as CEO of Homeshop 18, launched an interior design and home design platform called Renomania. Note that, US-based Houzz Inc, online community and marketplace for homeowners and decoration professionals partnered with Times Bridge last month to expand its presence in India.
