Trampoline raises $5M Led by Matrix Partners India & WaterBridge Ventures

Gurgaon and London, Thursday, June 13th, 2024: Trampoline, a cross-border B2B Home Décor brand raised $5 million in a seed round led by Matrix Partners India and WaterBridge Ventures. The round also saw participation from Alteria Capital with an additional $2 million in venture debt. The funds will enable Trampoline to solidify its supply chain and sourcing capabilities, progress new product development and establish the early team.

Trampoline is on a mission to digitise access to design-led home décor for independent retailers, that represent over 70% of the $800Bn+ global Home & Living market. Trampoline promises a full stack experience, from design to delivery, providing access to the same tool kit currently available only to big box retail - these include no or low MOQS (minimum order quantities), accretive payment terms, and highly personalised curation. Leveraging the macro “China+1” dynamic playing out in the industry and a consumer shift towards more design-led, hand-crafted products, Trampoline looks to build deep-rooted supply chains across manufacturing hubs in India and SE Asia.

Trampoline was founded in December 2023 by Abhik Ghosh, Anushka Mahanti and Varun Deo, former executives at firms such as Amazon, Wayfair and Arla Foods, with over 40 years of cumulative experience in leadership roles across category management, supply chain, marketing and product development. Abhik and Varun were last senior leaders at Wayfair, a leading US based home décor marketplace, which gave them insight into the need for disintermediation in the global supply chain to drive efficiencies. Anushka previously led go-to-market for global brands, most recently with Amazon, and spotted the underserved opportunity with independent retail customers and the readiness of countries like India to service that.

Post its successful UK launch in Feb 2024, the company has seen significant demand across customers in the UK with over 1,500 units ordered in the first few months. Customers including independent retailers and interior designers have resonated with Trampoline’s mission to bridge the gap between their stores and manufacturers.

Abhik Ghosh, Co-founder & CEO, Trampoline, said, “Most of the magic happens at the factory shop floor and the point-of-sale. But the industry and value chain has remained archaic. Trampoline’s tech play aims to provide independent retailers the data and personalisation to efficiently curate for their stores, while equally deploying tech enabled QC/QA and supply chain solutions for our manufacturer partners. In the process, truly helping both sides to Trampoline-up to consumer demand.”

Anushka Mahanti, Co-founder & CCO, Trampoline, said, “We’re building a design-led B2B brand, which is a departure from the traditionally commoditised, low-value trading, export model. Combining India’s endemic raw materials and craftsmanship, with a global design language, we’re making data driven decisions on catalogue breadth, depth and forecasting, enabling Trampoline to cater to global businesses at scale. Design speaks volumes, pun intended, and we already see this play out with sophisticated global retailers.”

“We’re obsessed with delivering the best product quality while reducing lead times for customers. Owning quality control end-to-end, with robust factory audits and inspections ensures there are no compromises on standards. Our efficient consolidation at source enables higher flexibility and lower MOQs for customers, while our warehousing in India and the UK allow us to manage and replenish stock with agility.” added Varun Deo, Co-founder and COO, Trampoline.

On the investment, Sudipto Sannigrahi, Managing Director, Matrix Partners India, shared, “We, at Matrix, are privileged to partner with Abhik, Anushka and Varun as they leverage their multi decade experience in home décor to build Trampoline. We are big believers in the India to the world manufacturing story and feel the time is ripe to disrupt cross border supply chains in areas such as home décor where India has an inherent design and supply advantage. With a strong customer backward design sensibility and a fully digitized supply chain, Trampoline is uniquely positioned to solve for key pain points around discoverability, quality and reliable supply of products, for home décor retailers globally.”

Anjali Sosale, Partner, WaterBridge Ventures, said, “Trampoline dismantles traditional barriers to scale - heavily intermediated supply chains, opaque pricing, and lack of quality assurance - and enables independent retailers to diversify their supplier base and access exclusive product catalogues. India is one of the world's largest exporters of home decor products, exporting over $10B annually and predominantly led by SMEs. Trampoline provides these SMEs with access to global demand through its full-stack, design to delivery approach. As Trampoline's first institutional investment partner, we are privileged to work with the founding team - Anushka, Abhik, and Varun. With over a decade of leadership experience in cross-border commerce and a keen focus on operational excellence, they are well-positioned to succeed in this market and make Trampoline, a B2B brand of choice for global retailers.”

About Trampoline:

‍Trampoline, is a cross-border design-led B2B brand verticalized within the Home & Living category. It aims to provide independent retailers, interior designers, and wholesalers access to ethically manufactured products at low to no MOQs with an accretive margin profile, credit terms and best-in-class logistics and delivery experience. Trampoline does this by leveraging data from multiple sources to keep selection relevant, and building a tech stack focussing on removing defects on the supply and logistics front. Visit https://trampolinestore.uk/

About Matrix Partners India:

‍Founded in 2006, Matrix Partners India invests in companies targeting the Indian consumer and enterprise market at the seed, early and early growth stages. The firm has invested in several category-leading B2B marketplaces such as OfBusiness (B2B Commerce, fintech), CaptainFresh (Global seafood platform),Vegrow(B2B fruits marketplace), FarMart (SaaS-enabled B2B agri outputs), LoadShare (tech-enabled B2B logistics network), Bijnis (B2B fashion & footwear), Saveo (B2B for pharmacies), Ximkart (Full stack solution for B2B raw material inputs), ZippMat (Construction material manufacturer and supplier), Wootz (Engineering exports) and WizCommerce (SaaS enabled sales automation for manufacturing). Other marquee investments include Ola (mobility), Dailyhunt (mobile local language platform), Razorpay (payments), Five Star Business Finance(SME lending), Ola Electric (electric vehicles), Stanza Living (tech-enabled student housing platform), OneCard (mobile-first credit card), DealShare (social commerce platform), GoKwik (e-commerce enablement platform), MoEngage (intelligent marketing cloud platform), Jupiter (consumer neo bank), Mswipe (mobile POS), Zupee (leading skill-based gaming app) and Oxyzo (a tech-enabled smart financing solution provider) among others. Matrix India has advisory offices in Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai. Matrix Partners has a global network of funds investing in the US, China and India, with approximately $5 billion under management. Further information is available at www.matrixpartners.in. To know more about our investment philosophy & ideologies, check out the #MatrixMoments podcast series.

‍For more information, please contact:

‍‍pr@matrixpartners.in