Omidyar Network India invests in home interior start-up Mistry.Store

Gurugram-based digital-first home interior materials platform Mistry.Store has raised $2 million in seed funding round led by Omidyar Network India, an impact focused investment firm. 

Waveform VC and Bharat Founders Fund along with marquee angel investors such as Maninder Gulati (OYO), Vasant Sridhar (Co-founder, OfBusiness), Sumer Juneja (Managing Partner, SoftBank), Vikram Chopra (Founder, Cars24), Rohit Kapoor (CEO, Swiggy), Alok Mittal (Founder, Indifi) and Sharad Goenka (COO, Globalfaces) amongst others also participated in the funding round. 

Founded by Vaibhav Poddar and Bhanu Mahajan in 2022, Mistry.Store is a platform aimed at simplifying building material purchases like wood, plumbing, paints, hardware, electricals etc. for homeowners. 

The platform is primarily focused on enabling home interior professionals like architects, interior decorators, contractors etc., to be able to procure affordable and quality building materials on behalf of their customers. Currently, the company is focused on Delhi and NCR region. 

The start-up intends to use the funding to transform home-building material purchases by creating an end-to-end tech-enabled solution for home interior professionals and their homeowner customers. 

“Renovating or building your home in India is always an expensive and tiresome experience. We are aiming to simplify the material purchasing journey, which is typically led by home interior professionals,” said Poddar. 

“While this market is highly organized in western countries, no significant player has emerged yet in the India market, owing to local market dynamics. We aim to keep the home interior professionals our ‘north-star’ and create a community and an ecosystem for them to improve their business and personal outcomes,” he added. 

Cofounder, Bhanu Mahajan added, “Besides convenience and trust, we help the professionals get extra income too. We are the first platform for professionals that not just ensures them best deals but also enhances their knowledge and productivity.” 

In a similar context, Abhirup Sarkar of Omidyar Network India, believes that the home building material market in India is fraught with inefficiencies, inflated pricing and severe opacity for end consumers.  

“By addressing these concerns and by empowering the small businesses and independent professionals who are at the heart of the industry, Mistry.store aims to organise this large fragmented market through technology. In doing so, it will create significant positive impact on these businesses and professionals by helping them access a wider range of quality products, augment their incomes through increased business and also deliver an enhanced value proposition to their end customers,” said Sarkar.   

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