Direct-to-consumer (D2C) startup Green Soul Ergonomics has raised Rs 1.5 crore from Bengaluru-based Velocity.in.
This is the first round of external financing the company has raised, a release said.
Green Soul manufactures ergonomic seating products that are comfortable, durable, and designed to help people achieve the best posture.
According to a study, nearly 80% of Indians experience back pain at some point in their lives. The pandemic and the sedentary lifestyle that has followed as a result of work from home have collectively further aggravated problems resulting from bad posture. These issues harm mental health and consequently affect productivity.
Green Soul Founder and CEO Ravi Khushwani identified a gap in the Indian ergonomic furniture industry as there were no trusted brands for consumers. His personal experience with long working hours and posture-related problems further fueled his determination to build for this niche.
“It is vital to have a seating setup that is comfortable and conducive to productivity. Regular office chairs do not provide adequate comfort and are not tailored to the unique shape and size of each person. Our ergonomic chairs solve this problem,” Khushwani said.
The bootstrapped venture is now gearing up for its next leg of growth with financing from Velocity. “In the beginning, it was difficult to sell our DIY furniture online since it is a tangible product. But positive customer reviews and word-of-mouth helped us get more customers on board. As people started working from home, they realised the need for a comfortable seating setup. With this round of financing, we aim to build more inventory to cater to demand from people who are building their work from home setup,” he added.
The online furniture market today constitutes only 3% of overall furniture retail, however this sector is expected to grow at a rapid clip of 40% per annum for the next 5 years.
Velocity.in Co-founder and CEO Abhiroop Medhekar said, “Green Soul is a fast-growing eCommerce brand with an impressive revenue trajectory, good average order value and strong unit economics. Customers love their products, which explains their phenomenal growth with minimal marketing spends and maximum word-of-mouth promotions.”
“The pandemic and consequent shift to a remote-working model worked in their favour, leading to a 3x jump in revenue in FY21 alone. We are happy to collaborate with them and see how they utilize this round of financing to achieve growth,” he added.
Velocity.in commenced operations in early 2020 and has since worked with over 500 ecommerce businesses.
“We needed capital for inventory and evaluated multiple revenue-based financiers before making a choice. Velocity had the most holistic offering in terms of the amount of financing, data privacy and speed of execution,” he added.
