After Ratan Tata made his personal investment in online furniture store Urban Ladder, web and technology entrepreneurs Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan have also joined the company.
With technology being a key driver in the company's growth, the Silicon Valley-based entrepreneurs have come on board as investors at a time when the company is ramping up its technology platforms and offerings, to redefine furniture shopping in India, according to a statement by Urban Ladder.
The company is working on several tech innovations to solve complex furniture e-commerce problems with focus on mobile, data and analytics and product visualisation. The company aims to triple the size of its tech team in the next six months.
While the investment amount could not be ascertained, it is estimated to be less than 4 crore from each of the two investors.
It is also meanwhile learnt from sources that Ratan Tata had pumped in around Rs 4 crore in the company.
“We are thrilled to have veterans like Anand and Venky onboard as investors to mentor and guide us. They have done some fantastic work in technology, and set very high global benchmarks. It is great that they believe in the potential of the Indian e-commerce industry and are reinvesting in the ecosystem” said Ashish Goel, CEO & Co-founder, Urban Ladder.
Anand and Venky co-founded Junglee Corp in 1996, and pioneered internet comparison shopping. They co-founded Cambrian Ventures, an early stage VC fund in 2000, and Kosmix, a website that organises the Internet by topic in 2005. In 2011, Kosmix was acquired by Walmart and both Anand and Venky headed the WalmartLabs operations till June 2012.
“Furniture and home décor is a highly unorganised category in India, and Urban Ladder has been able to fill the need gap by finding great solutions for customers. The company’s journey has been very impressive. It’s a great team, off to a terrific start, and well positioned to be the leading furniture and home décor company in India” said Anand Rajaraman, Founding Partner, Cambrian Ventures.
Urban Ladder is on the growth path to achieve its vision of making a million homes beautiful. The company is strengthening its product portfolio and introducing new categories, along with geographical expansion to 30 cities by the end of the year. Urban Ladder has thus far raised $77 million from Sequoia Capital, TR Capital, Kalaari Capital, SAIF Partners and Steadview Capital in the last three years.