Aniket PujariEarly-stage investors see the materials-led interiors segment as a large, under-utilized opportunity, estimated at about $14 billion, with rising consumer spend and no clear market leader.
This shift is playing out even as large, late-stage cheques continue to flow into end-to-end interior platforms. Capital is now spreading across different layers of the interiors value chain, with early-stage investors increasingly betting that organizing the materials layer—tiles, laminates, wallpapers and panels—could become a large standalone opportunity.
In an example, Stellaris Venture Partners, along with Accel, has invested $10 million in a Series A round in Material Depot, a Bengaluru-based platform focused on interior and decorative materials, executives from the firm said in an interview with Mint.
“Traditionally, this has been a very unorganised category, run by small family-owned shops. Nobody was solving discovery for the modern Indian consumer,” said Manish Reddy, co-founder of Material Depot, on Wednesday.
Founded in 2022 by Reddy and co-founder Sarthak Agarwal, the company aims to organize categories such as tiles, laminates, wallpapers and wall panels, among others.
Material Depot operates a hybrid model, with product discovery online and purchases taking place at large-format experience centres. “Customer acquisition happens online, but conversion happens offline,” Reddy said.
Material Depot’s experience centres typically span about 8,000-10,000 square feet, the company said.
The new funding round also saw participation from Whiteboard Capital, DeVC, Soma Capital and MyAsiaVC, along with angel investors including Livspace founder Ramakant Sharma and Curefoods CEO Ankit Nagori, among others.
Materials focus
The segment has also begun attracting interest from adjacent players. Last year, Mint reported that Infra.Market was stepping up its push into interior materials, home finishing and lifestyle categories such as fitting, finishing and furnishings.
Founders Souvik Sengupta and Aditya Sharda had told Mint back then that they expect this segment to scale up to about 40% of overall revenue over the next few years, from around 30%.
Reddy said Material Depot benefits from India’s manufacturing depth in decorative materials.
“Nearly 80% of our manufacturing is in India, which gives us a structural supply-chain advantage,” he said.
The fresh capital will be deployed across technology, supply chain expansion and geographic growth. “We are doubling down on technology, supply chain depth, and expanding to new metros,” Reddy said.
The company plans to enter Hyderabad over the next three months, followed by expansion into other major metros and tier-I cities. Over the next 12-18 months, Material Depot plans to expand to more than 30 experience centres across multiple cities and serve over 50,000 customers, the company said.
“Consumers want to be deeply involved in how their homes look, but there is still no trusted one-stop solution,” said Rahul Chowdhri, partner at Stellaris Venture Partners.
Competition in the broader home interior segment has also been heightening. PharmEasy co-founders Dharmil Sheth, Dhaval Shah and Hardik Dedhia have launched All Home, a brand-building and enablement platform targeting India’s fragmented architecture and interior design market.
Separately, Singapore-based home décor startup Livspace raised $50 million in internal funding from its parent entity in April last year. Similarly, HomeLane acquired peer Design Cafe and Flipspaces secured $50 million in its Series C round in September last year.
Many of these firms are execution-led interior companies that design, plan and deliver finished spaces. While the sector has seen significant capital flow into such design-led platforms, early-stage investors believe materials-focused models are attempting to address a different gap in the market.
These startups are directly addressing the aesthetic needs of homeowners as well as small designers and architects.
“Home materials in India remain a low-trust, supplier-led market, even as homeowners have evolved into informed, design-driven decision makers,” Accel partner Pratik Agarwal said.
Chowdhri added that post-pandemic behaviour and social media exposure have increased homeowner willingness to spend on aesthetics and finishes.
He said the materials-led interiors segment alone represents a large and under-institutionalised market. “This is a roughly $14-billion category with rising consumer spend and no institutional leader,” Chowdhri added.
According to a recent report by Mordor Intelligence, the overall India’s interior design market is estimated at $35.48 billion in 2026 and is projected to grow to $65.01 billion by 2031, at a compound annual growth rate of 12.87%.
The research firm also said that India’s interior design market is riding urbanization, DIY-tech adoption, hybrid work, sustainability demand and tier-2/3 city consumption tailwinds.
While homeowners remain Material Depot’s primary focus, demand from commercial, retail and hospitality projects is emerging. “About 5-10% of our demand already comes from commercial and hospitality projects,” Reddy said.
