Australian online furniture startup Brosa just raised a $5 million series B round led by AirTree

Australian startup Brosa has secured $5 million in a capital raising round led by existing investor AirTree Ventures.

AirTree Ventures, which pumped in $2 million in the company’s 2015 series A round, was joined this time by Bailador Technology Investments and BMY Group.

Established in 2014 by David Wei, Ivan Lim and Richard Li, the business allows a furniture customer to cut out the run-around in physical shops by facilitating browsing, selection and purchase all on its online platform.

Since the series A round, Brosa has increased its headcount from 25 to 70, built a 10,000 square metre distribution centre and launched more than 2000 new products. The company says orders have grown more than tenfold in the last two years.

“The business has grown at a tremendous pace since AirTree invested and as we continued planning for the future, it made sense to find additional partners who could support and help us lead and execute that vision,” said Brosa co-founder and chief Ivan Lim.

“Craig and the AirTree team have been a tremendous support so when we spoke with other investors we were looking for like-minded partners who showed great understanding and belief in what we’re building.”

The latest cash injection will be used to start challenging physical furniture stores with Brosa’s own real-world shopfronts. The first of such outlets, called Brosa Studio, has already been operating in Melbourne.

“Revenue per square metre for first Melbourne studio has been lucrative with its unique curated styling sessions helping customers with their personalised home and living choices,” said the company.
 The new capital will also go towards hiring new “senior” talent in areas like software engineering, technology and the furniture industry.
“Technology shifts are dramatically changing consumer expectations in retail. The furniture sector has been slow to effectively address a large and growing cohort of online consumers,” said Bailador principal Andrea Kowalski.

“The Brosa team has made excellent use of technology to optimise the design, build and delivery of furniture.”

AirTree Ventures managing partner Craig Blair said the three co-founders’ ability to use software and data science to “re-engineer a stodgy industry” was impressive.

“We have bought into their vision to reimagine the furniture-buying experience for the internet generation and are excited to back them again in this round.”

Tony Yoo - Business Insider Australia - 24 Oct 2017