Urban Ladder is an

omnichannel Omnichannel is a neologism describing a business strategy. According to ''Frost & Sullivan'', omnichannel is defined as "seamless and effortless, high-quality customer experiences that occur within and between contact channels". History "Omnis" is ...

furniture and decor retailer based out of

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Urban Ladder currently has 3 stores in Bangalore and distribution across 75+ cities in India through its website.

History

Urban Ladder Home Decor Solutions was co-founded by Ashish Goel (

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

) and Rajiv Srivatsa in July 2012. Ashish Goel previously worked with

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...

and served as the CEO of

Amar Chitra Katha Amar Chitra Katha (ACK Comics) is an Indian publisher of Indian comics and graphic novels. Most of its comics are based on religious legends and epics, historical figures and biographies, folktales and cultural stories. The company was founded ...

. Rajiv Srivatsa previously worked with

Cognizant Cognizant is an American multinational information technology services and consulting company. It is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States. Cognizant is part of the NASDAQ-100 and trades under CTSH. It was founded as an in-hous ...

and

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

before co-founding Urban Ladder. Urban Ladder is a design-led,

brand which offers furniture and home decor. With over 5000 designs across 35 categories such as living, dining, bedroom, study, and decor, Urban Ladder was established as an online-first brand in 2012. In 2017, Urban Ladder made a shift to offline retail, in an effort to become an omnichannel brand. It opened its first flagship store in

on 8 July 2017 and currently has 4 offline stores in Bangalore. Rajiv Srivatsa, one of the founders of Urban Ladder, quit the company in October, 2019 after seven years with the company. In November 2020,

Reliance Retail Reliance Retail is an Indian retail company and a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Founded in 2006, it is the largest retailer in India in terms of revenue. Its retail outlets offer foods, groceries, apparel, footwear, toys, home improvement ...

acquired the company by purchasing 96% stake in a crore deal.

Funding

Urban Ladder secured

seed capital Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' su ...

of $US1 million from

Kalaari Capital Vani Kola is an Indian venture capitalist. She is the founder and managing director of Kalaari Capital, an Indian early stage venture capital firm. She was listed as one of the most powerful women in Indian business by ''Fortune India'' in 2014 ...

in August 2012. The company later raised another $US5 million in a Series A round led by SAIF Partners; Kalaari Capital too participated in the Series A funding. The company subsequently raised $US21 million in Series B round of funding led by Steadview Capital, SAIF Partners and Kalaari Capital Four months after the company raised Series B funding from Steadview Capital and existing investors SAIF Partners and Kalaari Capital, Urban Ladder received a personal investment from Ratan Tata, Tata Sons. On 9 April 2015, Urban Ladder announced that they had raised $US50 million in funding led by

Sequoia Capital Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...

and TR Capital. Existing investors Steadview Capital, SAIF Partners and

were also participants. Urban Ladder, raised an internal round of $12 million from investors Kalaari Capital, Saif Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Steadview Capital in February 2018. In combination with the $15 million raised in January 2017, these funds were used to further Urban Ladder’s omnichannel expansion, online and offline – a decisive step towards profitability in FY 18–19. With a $27 million infusion over 12 months, Urban Ladder's omnichannel approach and profitability push will help it build a powerful retail brand.

Business model

Urban Ladder has both online and offline business model for distribution. The company delivers and installs all the products it offers. The brand has also put its products on

marketplace A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

and

Flipkart Flipkart Private Limited is an Indian e-commerce company, headquartered in Bengaluru, and incorporated in Singapore as a private limited company. The company initially focused on online book sales before expanding into other product categories ...

. Urban Ladder is continually creating and launching new collections like the Malabar, the Eleanor & Louise, and the Fujiwara range,

Urban Interiors

Urban Ladder launched design consultation as a service in 2016.

The Urban Ladder Design Network

Apart from its in-house collections and consultations, Urban Ladder works with external designers. The Urban Ladder Design Network provides external designers with 3D rendered models of its products. The partnered designers also get priority inventory blocking on Urban Ladder’s products and a commission when their clients select Urban Ladder’s designs for their homes. Currently, Urban Ladder has over 600 design firms working with them as part of The Urban Ladder Design Network, with the tribe increasing every month.

Awards and recognition

Urban Ladder collected the 'Best Digital Start-Up' Award at the 4th India Digital Awards conducted by

Internet and Mobile Association of India Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) is a not-for-profit industry body representing the interests of online and mobile value added services industry. It is registered under The Societies Registration Act, 1860. History The need fo ...

. Ashish Goel was voted by the Network 7 Media Group Jury as "Game Changer Entrepreneur of the year" 2016 at Satya Brahma founded 8th edition of

India Leadership Conclave India Leadership Conclave is an annual industry event organised by Indian Affairs. Speakers address current issues at the annual conclave from Network 7 Media Group. In 2013, India Leadership Conclave themed the Conclave "New India - Agenda for C ...

2016.

References

{{Reliance Industries Limited Reliance Retail Online retailers of India Indian companies established in 2012 Retail companies established in 2012 Internet properties established in 2012 Companies based in Bangalore Furniture companies of India Furniture retailers of India 2012 establishments in Karnataka