Mumbai, August 20, 2015: BedBathmore.com, India’s first discovery and social commerce platform for everything home, will be investing close USD 20 mn as a part of its expansion plans over the next 18 months. The company is already in talks with investors from the retail trade sector as well as VCs to raise an initial round of about USD 7-10 mn over the next couple of months. BedBathMore.com currently funded internally and via Blume Ventures, is likely to close the first round of investment over the next 90 days.
The company, which recently re-aligned its business from a pure-play commerce model to a content-community-commerce model, will invest the funds to build its product offering as well as technology. The company will also be doubling its team size, increasing from the current 100-member team to over 250 by the end of the current fiscal.
BedBathMore is the only platform in India that has integrated content, community and commerce into a single platform to create a complete home solution of online users. Over the next 18 months, the company will focus on extending the current value-propositions it offers its users. Key amongst these will be increasing the community of architects and designers on its platform from the current 3500 to 10,000 by December this year. BedbathMore will also begin development of several industry first features to its platform that will appeal to users looking to style their homes.
Speaking on the company’s growth plans, Amit Dalmia, Founder & CEO, BedBathMore said, ”BedBathMore.com will be a platform to combine content, community and comerce, in a simple yet intelligent manner. We don’t want to be viewed just as a commerce company but as a discovery based company. BedBathMore.com will be a disruptive and an integral part of bridging the gaps, currently not being looked at in the market. As a part of this journey, we are looking for partners who can associate with us to realize this vision.”
Over the last few months, BedBathMore has made key acquisitions of Homado.com, an online community of architects and CrudeArea, an art based start-up focused on the discovery of graphic art.
BedBathMore.com is promoted by Mr, Vijay Agarwal Founder & Chairman of the Creative Group of companies and Blume Ventures.
The Creative Group of companies is one of the largest exporters of apparel and home furnishing products. The group employs more than 15,000 people across four continents for multiple product categories. The group is also the promoter of popular brands like 109F, a leading male apparel range and Portico New York, India’s premier home furnishing brand.
Blume Ventures is a leading early-stage seed & pre-series A venture fund. The company provides seed funding to early-stage tech-focused and tech-enabled ventures. Blume is a proponent of a collaborative approach and likes to co-invest with like-minded angels and seed funds.
