Wakefit.co raises Rs 185 crore in a funding round led by Verlinvest, Sequoia, valuation hits Rs 1,900 crore

Bengaluru-based sleep and home commodities startup Wakefit.co has raised Rs 185 crore Series B funding led by the European investment firm Verlinvest and existing investor Sequoia Capital India. The company aims to deploy the latest round of funding to accelerate the company’s strategic expansion to newer markets, foster product innovation, and leverage technology to deepen its consumer-first approach.

Its valuation has jumped to Rs 1,900 crore from Rs 210 crore in December 2018, when the startup raised Rs 65 crore from Sequoia Capital. As part of the funding round, the company has also instituted an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (Esop) buyback worth Rs 15 crore for the benefit of early employees. It will also add another 40-50 employees to its Esop pool. Following this round, the founders will continue to hold more than 50 percent stake and around 6-7 percent will be held by employees under the Esop scheme. Sequoia will continue to hold 31.9 percent with the remaining being held by Verlinvest.

Ankit Garg, CEO and Co-Founder of Wakefit.co commented on the Series B funding round and said in the press statement, “The investment consolidates Wakefit.co’s position as the fastest-growing D2C brand in India. Given that the company has been profitable from an early stage – a rarity in the startup world – our focus has always been on high growth while maintaining strong business fundamentals. Our product innovation and customer-centric DNA has enabled us to achieve our growth targets year-on-year. The latest funding round will help us touch more lives and penetrate deeper into the Indian market.”