BWDisrupt interacted with Shezaan Bhojani, the Co-founder of Design Cafe to explore in depth how the market for designs is growing.Design Cafe was founded in 2011 as a traditional architecture and interior design firm, but in November of 2015 we pivoted to a marriage between design and technology and launched www.designcafe.xyz , an online platform to help you design and build your home interiors.
Design cafe through technology allows homeowners to select and design their homes online, the team then customizes the design for them in 2 days and installs the same in 59 days whilst giving them a 5 year warranty on interiors. The aim is to leverage technology to democratize good design for home owners who cannot afford expensive designers and instead rely on carpenters or smaller less experienced design firms. It also ensures that home owners need to worry about ancillary items in their home like lighting, wallpaper etc, Design cafe (DC) takes care of everything, while you relax. It's technology allows you to see your kitchen design instantaneously on the net with an accurate estima
How was it started?The founders being award winning designers and part of the field for long time, realized that there was a large disorganized market for home interiors where most home owners were unhappy. They realized that by using technology they could automate most of the design and adaptation process allowing them to scale quickly across the country and help more people design and build their homes.
How is it different from your competitors?
Design cafe has a patent pending technology with intelligence that will design for you, just like a designer would on it's online platform...you just need to enter your kitchen size and the software thinks like a designer and based on your taste shows you a design instantaneously - with a live 3d and estimate...what would normally take days...Now just takes minutes. Dc also helps you build and assembles all parts of your home for you...from curtains to the furniture from the wallpaper to the false ceiling and all this can be tracked online and now comes with a warranty...changing the way people do interiors for your home. The best part is that it is all factory made which means it superior finish than any carpenter can every give.
How is it different from existing ones?
No other company has the intelligence software that can design for you online - also no one allows instant project tracking online...we are the leader in using technology and design to make the home interior process - faster, easier and most importantly build better homes by monitoring the manufacturing end to end with our own resources and team.
Please tell us about your current funding status?
Raised USD 400,000 /- last year from a group of angels, including Mr.Kanwaljit Singh (ex MD of Helion VC), Mr.Apurva Salarpuria (of Salarpuria Builders). We are now in advanced talks with Investors to raise a 3 million dollar Series A round.
What kind of Monetization model do you have at present?
DC manufactures and installs most of the furniture through their own leased factories and has margin for every order booked. I.e. we make almost everything that goes into the home and have our margins built in.
Share with us your Traction details in the months so far?
Since it's launch in Nov 2015, we have booked 55 homes in Bangalore alone, we are currently booking orders worth almost one crore every month.
What are your Future plans?
DC has just launched the first of its kind "Design experience centre" where users can experience design in 3D and also in reality by touching and feeling all materials and samples. This first centre is launching in Whitefield on September 17th, we plan to add 3 more centres in Bangalore over the next 6 months and then expand to other cities across India.
Please brief us about your Marketing plans that you have in mind for your startup?
DC is planning an online and offline marketing campaign to raise awareness about it's unique service and technology for home owners. We have also tied up with many builders as their Official Interior design partner for their project and will aim to add 50 builders across Bangalore.
What kind of Challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
Adding technology to such a disorganized sector was not easy especially when it came to getting the supply chain and labour to get used to technology and integrating that in the process of making the house. , also trying to design and write code for a software that thinks like a designer was an immense task and took a team of 6 , 9 months to write.
Tell us about the Market size and opportunity that you are eyeing for the startup?
USD 10 billion dollars currently to grow to USD 20 billion by 2020. Secondly, DC aims to be a sustainable billion dollar business by 2020 and be the most recognizable brand for home interior design in India.
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Soumya is a young writer and journalist, with bachelors in Multimedia and Mass Communication. She is an alumini of the Asian College of Journalism, and finds politics and sustainability intriguing beats to work with.
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