CapriCoast.com Aims to Revolutionize Modular Furniture Buying in India

Capricoast.com is a startup that provides modular furnishing and home furnishing solutions. It is is Indian only marketplace for modular kitchen furnishing. The startup recently raised Series A for $3.5 million (23 crores) from Accel Partners and Singapore-based VC firm RB Investments. Prior to this it had raised $1.5 million in a seed round led by Accel Partners India.

The company enables people to choose modular furnishing and home furnishing solutions online. The firm provides over 1000’s of deliverable designs, the rich online catalog offers India’s widest range of kitchens and wardrobes, to suit any design inclination and every budget. It also offers Easy to use online customization tools & free design consultations. The design consultations will be with the architects.

CapriCoast connects customers with manufacturers and suppliers of kitchen solutions and wardrobes. The company has both branded and private label products

Now sitting at the laptop, one can choose their house furnishing solutions, thus avoiding the cumbersome work of going to different home furnishing vendors for different needs.

Capricoast.com’s online model eliminates middlemen and brings in cost efficiency that are passed on to the customer, making it possible for the price of a world class modular kitchen to be 20-25% lower than any other comparable offerings in the market.

Further, The modular furniture (Kitchens & Wardrobes) industry in India is pegged at $10 bn, a large part of which is unorganized. Modular furnishing has witnessed phenomenal growth as a category in the last ten years and has become an essential pre-move in purchase for new homebuyers. While a handful of both Indian and International brands exist, the large part of the demand continues to be fulfilled by small interior design firms and local carpenters.

Sujata Sangwan interacts with Jawad Ayaz, Capricoast’s CEO, and discusses the idea behind CapriCoast.com and overview of its offer to home owners.

Capricoast Vision

Capricoast strives to make buying Home Interiors as easy as e-commerce. It is the only marketplace set to revolutionize modular furniture buying in India. You get the best of brands and interior design firms -with modular as well as semi-modular execution capabilities . With 1000's of pre-designed kitchens, our online 3D catalog offers India's widest range of models to suit any design inclination and every budget. From internationally inspired designs to SnapFit kitchens that are pre-customized for project-specific floor plans, from kitchens that are compact and functional to the spacious and opulent, Capricoast has them all.

Easy-to-use online customization and the support of our design team allows unlimited design iterations until your needs and budget are exactly met. Designs, colors, specifications and costs can be compared and contrasted at the click of a button.

Motivation/Gap that was identified in the market for your product to work successfully?

• The modular furniture (Kitchens & Wardrobes) industry in India is pegged at $10 billion, a large part of which is unorganized. Modular furnishing has witnessed phenomenal growth as a category in the last 5 years and has become an essential pre-move in purchase for new homebuyers. While a handful of both Indian and International brands exist, the large part of the demand continues to be fulfilled by small interior design firms and local carpenters

• At present, Capricoast.com is India’s only marketplace for modular furniture. There is no other player in India who currently offers the O2O (online to offline) model which enables modular furniture brands to take their extensive showroom network online, thus significantly increasing their visibility and customer reach

• This also provides us with unparalleled capability to scale. We have gone from 1 city to 15 cities in 2 months and will soon be in 50+ cities with a showroom network of 200+ ( need to edit, now would have changed)

Capricoast.com’s O2O model brings in cost efficiency that are passed on to the customer, making it possible for the price of a world class modular kitchen to be 20-25% lower than any other comparable offerings in the market.

Which cities do you currently cater too?

As of now we have over 2000+ happy customers. Via our partners, we have a footprint in the metros as well as many tier 1 and tier 2 cities across India, such as Bangalore, New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Gurgaon, Nagpur, Kolkata, etc.

Where have you got the maximum response from? Who are your target clients?

Bangalore is our biggest market - which clearly explains the openness of people here towards shopping online for big ticket and high involvement purchases, closely followed by Chennai and Hyderabad. Our TG typically comprises an audience aged 30+, married, and looking to move into their first home (indicative apartment ticket size being INR 50 lakhs or more).

What is Capricoast's monetization model?

We make a commission on every sale. Given the capacity under-utilisation and margin stacking that exists in this business, we are able to make a healthy commission and still offer the customer best value

What’s the growth prospect of your venture?

We expect growth to explode. Given the huge market size, we are aiming to have conservative targets to be 5% of the organized market.

Capricoast funding and other partnerships

1/1/2015 -Launched Capricoast by Jawad Ayaz, Founder and CEO. This is his fourth start-up and second in the home furnishing space.

4/1/2015- Raised $1.25 million, seed fund from Accel Partners India

9/1/2015 -Launched market's first O2O model - partnered with Style Spa and Spacewood

11/1/2015 -Partnered with Sleek International (an Asian Paints subsidiary)

20/8/2015- Partnered with Diemme Cucine along with exclusive Italian kitchen designs curated by Husna Rahman.

12/1/2016 - Raised $3.5 million in a Series A round led by existing investors Accel Partners India and RB Investments.

3/1/2016- Partnered with Beth for its unique Steel modular kitchen offering. Target Market - The product offering is ideal for coastal regions characterized by humid climates. It also appeals to a Middle East based NRI audience with roots in Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and TN. They are specifically targeting AP and Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Delhi.

18/1/2016 - Partnered with Magickwoods, which is a leading Kitchen manufacturer headquartered in Canada with manufacturing units in India & China.

3/2/2016- Launched industry's first real time online estimator for home furnishing buyers - INSTAQUOTE

Capricoast has catered to a customer base of 2000+ in 20 cities across India and in the future is planning to scale-up to 60 cities and get more national and local brands on board.

What is your future expansion plan?

Capricoast has catered to a customer base of 2000+ in 20 cities across India and in the future is planning to scale-up to 60 cities and get more national and local brands, and interior design firms on board. With Interior Design Firms recently on board, CapriCoast leverages the capability to fulfill both modular as well as semi-modular requirements. We have also moved beyond kitchens, and are striving to be known as the one stop solution for home interiors.

Capricoast’s key goals are:

1. Expand the supply base to provide more choice to the customer, while carefully curating and setting the standards among whom we bring on-board
2 Expand business beyond the top 5 metros ( which today contribute to 95% of sales)