BathStory raises USD 100K in an angel funding round from Balboa Ventures and Laxman Vaidya
Jul 18, 2022
New Delhi [India], July 18 (ANI/PNN): BathStory, a design-tech startup that focuses on bathroom interiors and renovation, has raised USD 100K in an angel funding round. The angel investors include Balboa ventures which is the Investment arm of Ajith Mohan Karimpana, CEO of House of Kieraya; Laxman Vaidya, principal at Symphony Asia Singapore and Vaibhav Laddha, Ex CFO at House of Kieraya.
The capital raised from this angel round will be used to make investments in technology and to build the operational infrastructure of the company to support its growth plan.
In India, the home interiors market is huge, about $25bn today, highly fragmented, and significantly under-penetrated by any large organised player. And when it comes to a niche like a bathroom renovation, the penetration is much worse or even non-existent, despite the bathroom renovation market size being as much as 30 per cent of the home interior market.
Over the next year, the company intends to design and renovate over 300+ bathrooms. The company started operations at the beginning of this year in January 2022 and is already seeing very good traction, especially for a startup just a couple of months old. The company has handed over 40+ bathrooms worth ~Rs1 Cr + until June 2022. All this with minimal marketing spending and a very small team.
BathStory was founded by Aadil Merchant, a Chartered Accountant with about 11 years of experience in finance and strategy. Prior to this, he was heading Corporate finance for a furniture rental startup, i.e. Furlenco, now House of Kieraya.
Aadil is accompanied by Archana, an Architect & a designer with 7+ years of experience. Prior to this, she ran her boutique design firm and successfully delivered projects greater than Rs100 Cr. Archana has won multiple awards & international accolades for her work & contribution in the field of architecture.
"Today, the bathroom is not just a utility area, but it's a space that is as important as the living room & the bedroom. Post-COVID, the home improvement sector has seen substantial growth, as people are spending more time at home and are now more invested in making it a beautiful one. And this for us is a huge opportunity, " said Aadil Merchant, founder and CEO of BathStory.
"The Indian consumer today has become a lot more design conscious. Earlier, people didn't care about the bathroom beyond its basic functionalities, but today, the bathroom is becoming the ultimate place where people want to unwind and rejuvenate. Even the concept of powder rooms, his and her bathrooms are slowly coming into the Indian market, making our work in this niche fascinating," said Archana, Design lead at BathStory.
India has 250 mn homes, and out of them, approximately 10 per cent have concrete walls, concrete ceilings and tiled floors which is the target market for this business. With an average life of a bathroom of 10 years and 1.5 bathrooms per home, every year, there is a need to renovate over ~4 million bathrooms.
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