Foyr - One-Stop Solution for Customized Interior Design and End-to-End Execution Services

Foyr was founded in 2014 with the idea to simplify and transform the home decor industry through the use of innovative and path-breaking technology. The company was started with an aim to use innovative 3d-technology to make interior design easy and to simplify the execution of designs for its customers, and to provide a one-stop solution for customized interior design and end-to-end execution services.

In an interaction with Sujata Sangwan of BWDisrupt, Shailesh Goswami, Founder & CEO of Foyr, shares details about the company

Mr Shailesh Goswami has a B. Tech and M. Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and an MBA from FMS, Delhi. He founded the organization with the idea to simplify and transform the home decor industry through the use of innovative and path-breaking technology. He has spent sixteen years working in the IT industry, both in India and US, holding several high-level and diverse positions with some of the biggest brand names. He also served as the Senior Director of Microsoft, India prior to Foyr.

Excerpts from the interview:

How does the customer benefit from Foyr?

On Foyr.com, users can upload their floor plan and get custom designs for free. We do not charge our customers any fees for the first design plan. We also offer design options for them to choose from along with services such as concepts, designing, estimates, 3d renders, project management and complete execution at an affordable price. Fees is charged only If the customer goes ahead with the execution. Our team takes full responsibility for hassle-free implementation within 45-60 days.

What is the current funding status?

The company’s entrepreneurial journey began with a seed investment of Rs 4 crore from Brick Eagle, India’s only affordable housing accelerator, who saw immense potential in the idea and the product. In May 2015, Foyr completed a pre-series A round and got Rs 6 crore from Astarc ventures.

What differentiates Foyr from other industry players?

(a) Technology backbone to create and deliver designs at scale, make sales processes shorter and execution more efficient.

(b) Foyr’s asset light, local-marketplace model for execution leverages the strengths and delivery expertise of local vendors, retailers and suppliers rather than piling up inventory ourselves or sourcing material from outside. Such partnerships help minimize costs and the same benefits are passed on to our customers.

(c) Foyr delivers complete home interiors and not just loose furniture. We act as a one-stop destination for all interiors needs - furniture, furnishings, wardrobe, artefacts, basic electricals, services such as painting, false ceilings

What technology is being used to make ease out the entire process for the customer?

Foyr has created an array of technology and products for the interior design and real estate industry. At the core of it there is a custom compression algorithm, interactive 3d-engine and an intelligent scene descriptor language, this enables our designers to generate designs and BOQs (Bill of Quantity) efficiently and at scale and enables our customers to see exactly how their house will look using different designs and furniture much before the implementation.

Who is your target group and what is the marketing strategy to reach out to them?

Our target group is new home buyers. We do a combination of digital and offline marketing.

What is the revenue model of the company?

With Foyr you can get complete interiors including false ceilings, wardrobes, kitchen, loose furniture for a 2BHK flat in under 4 lacs and for a 3BHK in less than 7 lakhs. Foyr does not charge its customers any design fees. When a customer decides to employ our services, Foyr enters into a contract with the customer for hassle-free implementation within 45-60 days. The payments are milestone based and the customer is send weekly status updates.

What were the challenges company faced since inception?

High customer acquisition cost, deep discounting by competitors and managing unit economics are the challenging areas in the business.

With our current marketing mix, support from our vendor partners and better operations and logistic planning we are improving each day and are growing at a brisk pace quarter on quarter.

What are the expansion plans?

We are currently providing our services in Pune and Hyderabad. We plan to expand our services to other cities soon.

How is the company’s technology unique in terms of its use and application?

Our technology is developed keeping in mind the technicalities that must be considered while designing a house along with the time taken for it. We have built-in rules in our software to avoid any technical design faults which ensures the accuracy of the design and eliminates the risk of human error. The technology enables our designers to be able to create a design within 7 minutes which helps us keep our promise of providing the design within a few hours of getting the request.

What are the opportunities that you see in the Indian market?

India furniture and furnishings market represents a $26 billion opportunity, growing steadily year on year. Increased disposable incomes, greater penetration of internet, acceptability of ecommerce, growing housing demand, forward looking bills such as GST are indicators that strengthen our optimism in this space. According to a recent report, Indian consumers are spending at higher-than-GDP-growth rate levels in many other home categories including: Paints, Furniture, Kitchen appliances and furnishings (e.g. chimneys), Bathroom fittings, Flooring and floor coverings. It also highlights the rapid increase in acquisition of new homes and increasing nuclearization of households.

Considering the demands of the middle class, we foresee a lot of opportunity for home interior solutions from metros as well as the mini metros in India.