Pidilite, Evolvence India join HomeLanes Series D funding round

Interior design solutions marketplace HomeLane said on Monday that it has raised US$30 million (about Rs 214 crore) in a Series D funding round. New investors Evolvence India, Fevicol adhesive maker Pidilite Group, and FJ Labs led the round, HomeLane stated in a tweet. Existing investors Accel, Sequoia Capital, and JSW Ventures also participated, it added.

Evolvence India Fund is a private equity fund-of-funds while FJ Labs is a New York-based stage-agnostic investment firm co-founded by Fabrice Grinda, one of the founders of online classifieds firm OLX. HomeLane, operated by Bengaluru-based Homevista Décor and Furnishing Pvt. Ltd, offers a virtual design platform and a real-time integrated pricing engine.

The startup allows homebuyers to select kitchen, wardrobe, or wall-unit combinations with different layouts, designs, colours and finishes. After homebuyers place orders, interior designers from HomeLane help them customise the kitchen or the wardrobe.

The company was founded in August 2014 by Srikanth Iyer and Rama Harinath, along with the husband-wife duo of Krishnan Ganesh and Meena Ganesh. Iyer is the founder of Edurite. Harinath has studied at IIT-Chennai and IIM-Bangalore. Krishnan and Meena Ganesh are best known for setting up the education-cum-consumer internet services firm, TutorVista Global Pvt. Ltd.

HomeLane had secured Rs 64 crore from venture capital firms Accel, Sequoia Capital, and RB Investments in December 2017 in what was likely its Series C round. Previously, it raised Series B funding in 2016 and Series A round was led by Sequoia Capital and Aarin Capital in 2015.

Earlier this year, the company had mopped up Rs 33 crore in a bridge round from JSW Ventures, Accel and, Sequoia.