A Ghaziabad-based mattress startup is helping Indians get a good night’s sleep

Ever stared at the ceiling for several minutes figuring how to get out of bed without hurting your already-sore back?

While it is no secret that a good mattress can reduce back pain and improve sleep quality, buying the right one isn’t easy as there are several kinds—from innerspring mattresses to memory foam to hybrid among others.

This search gets even more complicated in India as most products are designed to suit international standards and sleep patterns.

Ghaziabad-headquartered Durfi wants to change this. The startup promises to help Indians sleep better with mattresses designed for orthopedic support and height making them ideal for all body types.

Durfi was founded by Nitin Gupta in 2018. 

“With over 30 years of experience in the sleep industry, our research and development team reviewed and studied most of the mattresses and their technologies,” the founder says.

The team at Durfi found that most brands are in the race to provide mattresses with new designs and patterns using low-grade harmful polyurethane foam (PU). However, these do not address user requirements.

“That’s why Durfi comes in. We relentlessly work hard to make your sleep easier, smoother, and better,”  Nitin adds.

Durfi’s products are available through all the online platforms including Amazon, Pepperfry, Flipkart, Bajaj, Paytm Mall, and on its own website.Currently, Durfi offers three different types of mattresses. Durfi Original is a firm mattress, Durfi Hybrid is pocketed coil mattress with a medium-firm feel, and Durfi Hemp seed mattress for soft comfort. 

The startup also offers dual comfort pillows, a soft mattress topper, and two versions of the mattress protectors. 

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As per the startup, its major orders are generated for Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat, Pune, and Jaipur.

A good night’s sleep 

Durfi says its mattresses are designed for optimal back support. They are made of hypoallergenic grade 400 gsm fabric to minimise allergic response. The cotton candy memory foam used in the product is also better than traditional memory foam at dispensing heat, the startup claims. 

The products also do not contain mercury, lead, and other heavy metals.

“Durfi Mattress is an aggregation of key principles to provide Indian customers with a better sleep experience. Indian sleeping arrangements are typically stiffer. Considering this preference of Indian consumers, Durfi has re-designed and re-engineered the typical mattress into a world-class performance norm, merging with Make in India budget-friendly products,” Nitin asserts.

The team

Founder Nitin, is responsible for developing the overarching strategy and growing the key business verticals of Durfi. 

A Symbiosis Institute of Design graduate, Nitin has over  13 years of experience, having worked with various market leaders such as Whirlpool and Tech Mahindra. 

Currently, the startup has a team of 10 employees. 

Funding and monetisation 

Durfi was launched as a bootstrapped venture with Rs 50 lakh from the founder. Nitin says the platform has witnessed traction since its inception and has sold 25,000 mattresses to date with revenues of Rs 40 crore.

The startup claims that it currently serves over two lakh and aims to sell over 30,000 mattresses and achieve sales of over Rs 50 crore by 2023.

Its products range anywhere between Rs 1,180 and  Rs 52,848, and the startup claims to sell about 500 mattresses a day.

The way ahead

Indian sleep commerce market size is expected to be around Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore for FY23, according to the founder. “The whole market chock with competitors, it's very difficult to get the most market share, as a bootstrap we are looking for 10-15 percent of the market share,” he says.

Awareness around sleep health has led to an increase in demand for good quality orthopedic mattresses in India, the startup says.

“We have experienced more customers calling in and talking with our sleep experts in the past few months. They want to know more about the product and its features. There has been an improvement in the customer psyche wherein they demand to know information about mattresses, the foam densities and features for each layer. Priorities have changed from buying a budgeted or a luxurious mattress to buying a good mattress,” explains Nitin.

The startup faces competition from players like Wakefit and SleepX among others.

Commenting on the growth, Nitin says, “India has strong consumerism in the domestic market. There has been a recurring growth of 30-50 percent every year on sales. For serving and meeting the new business numbers, we need to invest in the infrastructure as per the demand pattern to cater to the customers. Based on the opportunities, stakeholders will take a call on the investment.”

With the production capacity of nearly one million mattresses annually from its five factories including Coimbatore, Haridwar, Baroda, and Meerut (two), Durfi says it is able to fulfill the requirements of its customers.