Flipspaces, India’s leading tech-based commercial interior design and build a startup, has raised $1.15 million (Rs 8 Crore) in a venture debt funding round from Unitus Capital Inclusive Credit (UCIC) and Alex Group of Companies. With this successful round of debt funding, Flipspaces will utilize the funds towards the growth of domestic business units, expansion of the foothold globally and enhancement of VR technology for better consumer experience.
Founded by Kunal Sharma and Ankur Muchhal in 2015, Flipspaces is an integrated solution provider of property “Discovery”, “Design” and “Delivery” for SMEs, startups and co-working spaces that are looking to expand their physical presence. The technology suite, powered by Virtual Reality and Gaming Engine Based tech, is the key differentiator in the startup’s vision of disrupting a $170 billion market globally.
India has over 45 million registered SMEs which is second only to China. These SMEs employ a workforce of 110 million next only to agriculture in India. The workplaces that this workforce operates out of; offices, retail stores, hospitality outlets, form a lion’s share of commercial real estate in India. But this market has largely been unorganized in terms of managing the discovery, design, and delivery for SME owners and other stakeholders in this domain. Flipspaces is going after this market using tech and process enabled approach to make real estate expansion management i.e. space discovery, design, and delivery, an integrated solution for the SME client.
Commenting on this debt funding, Kunal Sharma, CEO & Founder of Flipspaces said, “ We are happy to have partnered with UCIC and Alex Group Of Companies towards leveraging debt for working capital and growth. We, at Flipspaces, aim to establish ourselves as a de facto brand for the real estate expansion management of commercial spaces across different SMEs. We plan to expand to three more business units in India and upscaling our business operations to two cities in the US, delivering a differentiated customer experience through cutting-edge web and VR technology .”
Flipspaces help prospective customers to discover a property mapped to their needs using a consultative approach at the discovery stage. Potential SME customers can further visualize their virtual office environment in their chosen spaces by leveraging their VR-technology coupled with their exhaustive product catalog of more than 2 lakh commercial interiors product SKUs.
“We are an inherently profitable and hugely capital-efficient brand. Unlike other brands, we can afford to leverage debt as an instrument for growth.” highlighted Kunal Sharma.
Unitus Capital Inclusive Credit, which has in-depth expertise in investor relationships and streamlining the execution of raising capital as well as deliver deep social and environmental impact.
Abhijit Ray, Co-founder and Managing Director, Unitus Capital Inclusive Credit commented,“ Having invested in a few early-stage startups, there is greater scope and potential in Flipspaces in how they help brands across different sectors to freezing an office space mapped as per a suitable location, budget, and aspirations with the help of structured tech and data-driven approach in a cost-effective manner with great conceptualization and execution.”
“Taking into consideration the customer outreach and loyalty analysis, we are proud of the fact that Flipspaces has 40% of the repeat customers and 20% of the referral customers which adds the trust element. As an investor, we are impressed by the unique competitiveness of Flipspaces,” added Prannay Sureka, Managing Director, Alex Group of Companies.
Flipspaces has earlier secured $3.5 million from Carpediem Capital in series A funding in January 2019, which was the first institutional funding received by the startup. Since its inception in 2015, Flipspaces has executed projects of revamping more than 3 million square feet of commercial spaces for various Fortune 100 companies, MNCs like BSH, Times of India, Aditya Birla and new-age startups like Razorpay, Nobroker, Bounce, and PlaySimpleGames.