Benchmark is leading a Series B investment of between $20 million and $30 million in interior design marketplace Laurel & Wolf, according to multiple sources, winning out over several other top firms that wanted to invest. The deal values the Los Angeles-based startup at more than $100 million, these people said.
Benchmark Leads Big Investment in Interior Design Marketplace Laurel & Wolf
The deal values the Los Angeles-based startup at north of $100 million.
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Jason Del Rey has been a business journalist for 15 years and has covered Amazon, Walmart, and the e-commerce industry for the last decade. He was a senior correspondent at Vox.
The deal comes about six months after the startup announced its last round; it had previously raised $5.5 million in total. Benchmark General Partner Matt Cohler, a board member at Tinder and 1stdibs among other startups, is the point person on this deal.
Cohler and Laurel & Wolf CEO Leura Fine didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
Sources say the round was highly competitive, with the startup deciding among around a half dozen other term sheets. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers was one of those that tried to get in on the round, according to one source, but ultimately lost out to Benchmark.
Laurel & Wolf’s website launched in 2014 and matches homeowners with interior designers who offer design recommendations entirely through the online service. Customers take a design quiz and enter in other information to reveal their style preferences. Multiple designers then compete for a customer’s business by creating a digital mockup of how they would style the room tailored to a customer’s budget. Customers pay a flat fee of between $299 and $499 per room for the design recommendations and Laurel & Wolf takes a 20 percent cut.
Designers also send customers links to where they can purchase the furniture and decor in the mockups of the redecorated room, and Laurel & Wolf earns a commission on those sales, too.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
