Wakefit.co raises Rs 185 cr from Europe firm

New Delhi: Sleep and home solutions company Wakefit.co on Wednesday said it has raised Rs 185 crore in funding led by European investment firm Verlinvest.

The Series-B round also saw participation from existing investor, Sequoia Capital India, a statement said. "The investment is expected to further boost Wakefit.co's penetration into non-metro areas of the country, with additional Capex investment in machinery, manpower addition and factory setups on the cards. Technology and marketing bandwidth are also expected to see a significant boost within the company, to help capture India's thriving home and furniture market," it added. As part of the funding round, the company has also instituted an employee stock option plan (ESOP) buyback worth Rs 15 crore for the benefit of early employees.

The company is also adding another 40-50 employees into the ESOP pool, the statement said. The funding will also accelerate growth with the company targeting revenue of Rs 1,000 crore by FY 2023. The company has grown rapidly and profitably with revenue growing from Rs 80 crore in FY2019 to Rs 199 crore in FY 2020. For FY21, the company aims to touch Rs 450 crore in revenue. The company is planning to set up experience centers in a few cities as a pilot. Wakefit.co, which had a team strength of about 600 employees as of March 2020, aims to increase its workforce to 3,000 employees by March 2021 and has already started training programs for machine operators, carpenters and customer experience executives, the statement said.

The company will invest heavily in building stronger Learning & Development (L&D) modules within the company as part of its Wakefit Academy initiative to develop skilled manpower from the grassroots level, it added. "The investment consolidates Wakefit.co's position as the fastest growing D2C brand in India. Given that the company has been profitable from an early stage - a rarity in the start-up world - our focus has always been on high growth while maintaining strong business fundamentals," Ankit Garg, CEO and co-founder of Wakefit.co, said. Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Director and co-Founder of Wakefit.co said the Series-B funding will help bolster key functions such as R&D, logistics, operations, technology and marketing.