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Mebelkart Acquires 53Central
INDIA: Online furniture and home
décor marketplace MebelKart.com has
acquired 53central, a crowd bargaining
platform that enables group buying
options for sports enthusiasts, for an
undisclosed amount according to VC
Circle.
“Group buying is expected to become
phenomenally large in case of the
furniture and interior design industries.
This acquisition will enable us to further
strengthen our position in these sectors,”
said Rahul Agrawal, co-founder and CEO
of Mebelkart, in a statement.
Josy Mathew, who launched 53central
this year, will join MebelKart as the
head of business development and lead
its new business line of bulk selling.
MebelKart is run by Bangalore-based
Mebelkart Technologies Pvt Ltd.
The deal comes after local search
platform AskMe.com, owned by Getit
Infomedia Pvt Ltd, acquired a 75 per
cent stake in MebelKart in August.
AskMe had reportedly paid $20 million
for the deal.
Agrawal, an IIT-Kanpur alumnus, said the
company will be looking at more such
acquisitions and acqui-hires to expand
its reach to global markets. Agrawal had
worked with Ola Cabs, Picsean Media
and Young Engineers before launching
the firm in 2012 along with BITS Pilani
graduate Nikhil Saraf and IIT-Bombay
alumnus Ranjeet Vimal.
Vimal had earlier launched DreamStarts.
in, a job search engine for Indian
startups, and search engine optimisation
consulting service GeekOnNet.com.
Saraf had earlier worked with Picsean
Media and Travelocity.
MebelKart claims to have more than
1,000 sellers on its platform, selling over
100,000 furniture products across the
country. The online furniture segment
has seen several funding deals in the
past year. HomeLane.com, FabFurnish
and Urban Ladder are the major players
in the space.
In March, Bangalore-based Kieraya
Furnishing Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which
operates Furlenco, an online venture to
rent furniture for residential use, raised
$6 million (Rs 38 crore) in a Series A
round of funding from LightBox Ventures.
In February, Bangalore-based Homevista
Decor and Furnishing Pvt Ltd, which
owns HomeLane.com, mobilised Rs 28.3
crore ($4.5 million) in its Series A round
of funding led by Sequoia Capital.
Last year, Bangalore-based Urban
Ladder Home Decor Solutions Pvt
Ltd had secured Rs 120 crore from
Steadview Capital and existing investors
including SAIF Partners and Kalaari
Capital.
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