Pepperfry planning an IPO in next 1 year

Pepperfry is planning to go public within 12-18 months as the company is turning profitable. The furniture retailer is joining a slew of Indian startups planning to tap the capital markets.

Ambareesh Murty, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Pepperfry, said, “We set a goal of profitability for the early part of next year. In August, we almost broke even. We are gunning to file for an IPO in 12-18 months. For an IPO, a track record of at least 6-9 months of profitability is important to show the business is capable of making money.”

“Over 6-12 months, we will focus on not only profitability but will also use the opportunity to grow. There is no scope for complacency, and we need to execute the way we have all this while,” he added.

The company announces a plan for IPO at a time when discretionary spending across sectors like furniture retail have been affected by the COVID-19 lockdown and economic distress.

The furniture retailer competes with Urban Ladder, smaller startups, and horizontal marketplaces such as Flipkart and Amazon.

“Despite the initial disruption during the lockdown, various actions helped the company move to profitability. We do more business today than we did in January-February. That was made possible because we own our supply chain, though it continues to be tough for the rest of the furniture industry. Building an omnichannel business, investing in the brand and multiple private labels are the other things we have benefited from,” Murty further stated.