Rental Startup Feather Raises $12 Million To Fight ‘Fast Furniture’
Today furnishings subscription startup Feather introduced their growth into new markets, Los Angeles and Orange County, California, after securing $12 million in investment. The Series A was led by Spark Capital and participated from Kleiner Perkins, Bain Capital Ventures, Y Combinator, PJC, Fuel Capital, and Scott Belsky, amongst others. Spark Capital has helped fund different startups inside the furnishings industry, such as Wayfair, 1stdibs, and Everything But The House.
This brings Feather’s total investment to $16 million. The business enterprise plans to use this investment to turn out to be a pacesetter in reverse logistics and increase headcount.
A Greener Business Model
Feather launched in 2017 within the New York City market by using three-time startup founder and Y Combinator alum, Jay Reno. Reno evolved this business version to offer a strategy to the problems because of the upward thrust of “rapid furnishings.” Much like rapid style, speedy furnishings have an ultra-modern appearance and coffee price, but they aren’t designed to be used for the lengthy haul. While a few portions are an outstanding manner to stay within finance, especially for infrequent furnishings like side tables and accent chairs—there may be a bent to head overboard. While reasonably-priced clothing is not generally bought out of necessity, everybody wishes a settee.
The issue in the statistic that millennials move extra than twelve instances earlier than shopping a home. So, domestic furnishings are being bought and disposed of at a better fee than in preceding generations. It’s no marvel that nine.7 million heaps of fixtures become in landfills each yr. Particularly for this demographic, condominium subscriptions like Feather are a more environmentally friendly and value-powerful way to supply home.
Furniture Rental 2.0
New furniture subscription offerings, like competitor Finish, are not absolutely excluded from the older condominium fashions consisting of Rent-A-Center, albeit with far superior branding and merchandise. Feather is focused on an exclusive marketplace totally. Furniture condo has historically appealed to 2 particular demographics—real estate professionals (for staging functions) and low-earnings populations. Feather subscribers can purchase furniture, but they’re choosing to lease as a substitute because it’s far truly a smarter choice for them.
A Millenial Solution
According to Reno, Feather’s subscribers are inside the stage after graduating from university earlier than purchasing their first domestic, among the while of 18-35 with a 50/50 split among men and women. “Their lives are frequently changing—jobs, relationships, towns, and as a result exchange residences every one to two years,” he says. “They are attracted to customized, on-call for services that supply them get entry to items without bearing the weight of ownership to make this extra transient lifestyle viable.”
Feather also sets itself apart because their inventory is from the stores in which their clients would generally be buying from. They presently offer 150 distinct portions from shops West Elm and Pottery Barn, with which they have got exceptional partnerships and other popular brands, including Casper, Leesa, and Jaybird.
Cost-Effectiveness
Feather’s subscription version has two stages, contributors and non-contributors. Members pay $19 consistent with a month for an annual membership. “Members get a drastically discounted monthly subscription charge on their furniture portions, which equates to 50% of retail after one year of their club,” explains Reno.
The startup additionally has a rent to the personal model constructed in, allowing subscribers to use the amount they’ve already paid toward renting the object to the price of buy. They can also alternate their fixtures for a charge of $99 in keeping with the ride, with one free trade yearly for participants. Delivery and assembly are also loose; that is an introduced fee that many humans neglect to add directly to the price of owning furniture.
But not all of Feather’s subscribers are frequent movers. A component in their commercial enterprise comes from individuals who rent out their domestic spare rooms or have homes used as brief-term rentals through Home Away, VRBO, Airbnb, etc. Using Feather permits them to supply those spaces in a greater fashionable and price-powerful manner. However, says Reno, “It’s essential to notice that the overpowering majority of our clients are the use of our furniture of their primary residence.”
Looking Ahead
As for destiny enlargement, the emblem is specializing in its new markets for now, but Reno says no longer to count it out. “We haven’t shared any public plans for additional enlargement. However, we believe Feather gives a provider that city dwellers across u. S. A. And global can use to supply their homes without spending a fortune or hurting the planet within the technique.”
