Green Soul Raises INR 1.5 Cr In Revenue-based Financing From Velocity The startup plans to accelerate its growth by using these funds to finance its inventory and marketing spends

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) startup Green Soul Ergonomics on Thursday informed to have raised INR 1.5 crore from revenue-based financier Velocity.in. This is the first round of external financing the company has raised.

Green Soul manufactures ergonomic seating products that are comfortable, durable, and designed to help people achieve the best posture. According to a study, nearly 80 per cent of Indians experience back pain at some point in their lives. The pandemic and the sedentary lifestyle that has followed as a result of work from home have collectively further aggravated problems resulting from bad posture. These issues harm mental health and consequently affect productivity.

"It is vital to have a seating setup that is comfortable and conducive to productivity. Regular office chairs do not provide adequate comfort and are not tailored to the unique shape and size of each person. Our ergonomic chairs solve this problem," Ravi Khushwani, founder and chief executive officer, Green Soul.

The bootstrapped venture is now gearing up for its next leg of growth with financing from Velocity.

"In the beginning, it was difficult to sell our DIY furniture online since it is a tangible product. But positive customer reviews and word-of-mouth helped us get more customers on board. As people started working from home, they realized the need for a comfortable seating setup. With this round of financing, we aim to build more inventory to cater to demand from people who are building their work from home setup. We needed capital for inventory and evaluated multiple revenue-based financiers before making a choice. Velocity had the most holistic offering in terms of the amount of financing, data privacy and speed of execution. The fact that the financing happens through a single partner and the data is secured with bank-level encryption drove our decision-making. We are excited about working with them and eager to see where this round of financing takes us," Khushwani added.

The online furniture market today constitutes only 3 per cent of overall furniture retail; however, this sector is expected to grow at a rapid clip of 40 per cent per annum for the next 5 years. Green Soul with its superior quality products and high brand recall is riding this wave of growth.

"Green Soul is a fast-growing e-commerce brand with an impressive revenue trajectory, good average order value and strong unit economics. Customers love their products, which explains their phenomenal growth with minimal marketing spends and maximum word-of-mouth promotions. The pandemic and consequent shift to a remote-working model worked in their favor, leading to a threefold jump in revenue in FY21 alone. We are happy to collaborate with them and see how they utilize this round of financing to achieve growth," commented Abhiroop Medhekar, co-founder and chief executive officer, Velocity.in.