Furniture retailing online startup Pepperfry could come out with an initial public offer in the next one year or more according to the company’s co-founder and CEO Ambareesh Murty. The company is expected to post profits too, in the next financial year though the CEO says they are almost there in terms of earning profits from their operations even now.
The occasion the CEO was interacting with the media was the opening of a large warehouse by the company in the Hoskote area on the outskirts of Bangalore. This warehouse, the third large one Pepperfry will operate, occupies a mammoth 360,000 square feet and can hold 30,000 furniture units. The warehouse is capable of handling 1,000 orders per day. The startup’s other two big warehouses are in Gurugram and Mumbai. This Bangalore warehouse has also been provided with some latest technology for operation and control.
It has been revealed that Pepperfry generates 40% of its business from the southern part of the country. Establishment of this large warehouse will go a long way in cutting down on delivery times and costs going ahead. North and West contribute around 30% each of the orders the furniture retailer receives. 3000 orders per day is the average count as far as the online business is concerned.
Having started out in 2012, the startup has built a reputation for itself with over 4.5 million registered users and 58% of the orders received being from the registered customers.
Interestingly, the company most of its receives orders through mobile phone, using the Pepperfry app or the mobile web to place the order.
In terms of funding, Pepperfry has so far raised around $200 million from an array of investors; prominent among them are Norwest Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs, State Street Global Advisors, and Bertelsmann India Investments.