5 startups that can help you transform a house into your dream home

The online home decor market in India has gained momentum in recent years, and we list the startups that let you design and decorate your house easily. 

Home is where the heart is, they say, but it isn't easy to ensure that your heart is fixated on your home unless the design and decor are perfect. Finding the right contractor who will translate your ideas well, or even an efficient interior designer who pays heed to your preferences is often a tall order. If you manage all that, you often have to grapple with frequent delays and unexplained cost overruns.

But no more. For the online world is helping solve this real-world problem too, by proving access to designers, decorators, contractors, material suppliers and labour. All this - on a deadline.

According to Technavio, the online home decor market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 50.42 percent in revenue by 2019. Big players such as Livspace, Homelane, Urban Ladder, Fabfurnish, Pepperfry, Furlenco, and Nestopia rule the market, but here are some of the lesser-known startups in the home interiors sector.

1. Arrivae

Arrivae, which refers to a ‘point of arrival’ in French, was founded by Yash Kela in 2017. Mumbai-based Arrivae uses tech stack to integrate experience centres, design partners, logistics, production, and financing, to make interior design easy and affordable for homeowners. This bootstrapped company claims to get about 4,000 leads every month. Arrivae charges a minimum of Rs 2,000 for a room, per month in case of EMI payment plans. It operates through an omni-channel mode and has stores in Mumbai, Chennai, Cochin, Bengaluru, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, and NCR.

2. Marks Dzyn

Delhi-based Marks Dzyn is an aggregator for interior design and construction services. Founded by Ashish Dhingra , the company also offers furniture, modular kitchens, and storage as part of the design process. It provides design services through a standard pricing where it charges a fee of Rs 5,000 to design a room. Bootstrapped Marks Dzyn claims to have completed more than 500 projects, and its monthly revenue has crossed Rs 1 crore. The company is now looking to offer interior design through its online platform.

3. Houseome

Mumbai-based end-to-end interior design startup Houseome offers complete home designing solutions, from floor plans to customised furniture to suit clients’ requirements and budget. Founded by Pradeep Singhvi in 2016, Houseome has completed over nine projects worth around Rs 7.8 million. It also has a virtual reality tool enabled that helps customers get a 3D feel of their home interiors. The average ticket size of its project is around Rs 15 lakh. Bootstrapped and angel invested, Houseome has a total investment of Rs 50 lakh.

4. Renomania

Renomania was started by Navneet Malhotra and Ritu Malhotra; they were later joined by Rahul Lodha in 2015. It as an online platform for home and interior designs. Delhi-based Renomania contains a catalogue of beautiful home pictures, articles on latest design trends, and general advice on different aspects of the home design or remodelling process. The website has four categories – photos, scrapbook, pro finder, and blogs. Renomania claims to have 3,00,000 unique visitors every month, a number that is increasing by 50 percent month-on-month.

5. Purple Turtles

Founded by two non-architects Radeesh Shetty and Gaurav Rai in 2009, Purple Turtles primarily serves as a platform for Indian lighting designers to showcase their artistry. Today, the range has extended beyond lighting to unique and interesting furniture and home accents but their commitment to design and quality craftsmanship remains. They have door handles starting from Rs 325 to exquisite lights and vintage furniture that run up to lakhs. The Bengaluru-based bootstrapped venture started with an initial investment of Rs 20 lakh, and clocked in a revenue of Rs 45 lakh in sales during the first year of operations. Since then, it claims to be growing at an average rate of 40 percent per year. Over the years, Purple Turtles has lent its services to corporates like TCS, Wipro, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Informatics.