Youtube, Google founders and other invest $5 million in online furniture rental start-up Cityfurnish

Key Highlights

Cityfurnish has received a funding of $5 million (₹345 Cr) from a group of investors. These investors include Paul Buchheit, the founder of Google and Steve Chen who is the co-founder of Youtube.

The company plans to utilize these funds for strengthening the brand’s position and technology as well as expanding the brand into new cities.

Along with residential furniture, Cityfurnish also has a presence in the hospitality and commercial segments which is growing rapidly.

Cityfurnish which is an online furniture and appliances rental platform has received a funding of $5 million (₹345 Cr) from a group of investors. These investors include Paul Buchheit, the founder of Google and Steve Chen who is the co-founder of Youtube. Apart from them , investment firms, Venture highway, Soma capital, SCM Advisors, Global Founders Capital and Boomerang Ventures also invested in the company. This round also saw participation from high net worth individuals. They are currently undisclosed.

The company plans to utilize these funds for strengthening the brand’s position and technology as well as expanding the brand into new cities.

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Cityfurnish was included in the winter batch of the US-based seed accelerator programme Y Combinator.

This startup was founded in 2015 by Neerav Jain and Saurabh Gupta. The inspiration behind Cityfurnish came from Jain’s personal experiences when lodging as a student in a rented apartment. Apart from finding a budget-friendly place, it was highly important to find good quality furniture. The task of finding good furniture at an optimum price was really difficult. This helped Jain come up with the idea of establishing a company for renting out furniture to the migrant population. These people don’t have many resources to spend as they are at a place for only a short time. Cityfurnish helps people rent out furnishing, appliances and furniture via their third-party partnerships.

The company claims to have seen a 100% growth in the 2018-19 year. It has also expanded by getting 100% more subscribers. The rental company also boasts of a customer retention rate of 50%.

Commenting on this investment, Samir Sood, founder of Venture Highway said that the current generation is attracted to on-demand services that will allow them to use items without any burden of ownership. They have faith that Cityfurnish will be able to stand out in this expanding market. They are also excited to have them on board and give impetus to their vision of owning less and living more.

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Prior to this investment, Cityfurnish had raised a yet undisclosed amount of seed capital from Brand Capital, Times group and Manoj Gupta, the director of Credit Suisse in 2016. Also, in 2015 the company had raised an undisclosed amount through Jitendra Gupta, Citrus Pay’s co-founder.

Along with residential furniture, Cityfurnish also has a presence in the hospitality and commercial segments which is growing rapidly. The company will also be starting a furniture subscription program which will work on the pay as you go model and will have no minimum commitment. This program would enable the consumer to subscribe to a particular product. They would also be able to make any kinds of changes to their packages without any additional costs.

Currently, Cityfurnish has a presence in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune. Its future plans include expanding its reach in 14 cities by 2020. They are currently working on an expansion to Chennai and Hyderabad. The company currently operates out of 9 warehouses across Gurugram, Noida, Pune and Mumbai but has plans to expand to other cities soon.

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