In December 2024, Jaipur-based direct-to-consumer (D2C) furniture brand WoodenStreet secured INR 354 Cr (about $43 Mn) in Series C, one of the largest investment rounds in India’s home and furniture sector in recent years. Premji Invest, the family office of Wipro founder Azim Premji, led that round.

“It was late 2023 when we discovered them [WoodenStreet],” said Kaveesh Chawla, Partner at Premji Invest, who led the transaction on behalf of the family office. “We also realised what they had built had a strong customer focus and a clear strategy. They were doing things the right way and executing with precision.”

Chawla joined Premji Invest in June 2023 and has since led several key investments, including follow-on rounds in Purplle and GIVA and the Series C in WoodenStreet.

His career started in 1998 at Infosys, where he spent six formative years growing the business across the US, the EU, Japan and South America. Armed with an MBA from the University of Michigan, he transitioned to Amazon in 2007, where he was instrumental in launching Amazon India and scaling critical high-growth areas such as the B2B business and retail excellence.

Seeking a return to early stage business development, Chawla moved to South Korea to join Coupang following its successful IPO. After a year of significant contributions, he was approached by Premji Invest to lead its consumer and consumer technology investment practice, where he continues to drive strategic growth.

Established in 2006, the family office manages $15 Bn in assets, has made more than 160 investments, and has generated $20 Bn in aggregate portfolio revenue. It builds sustainable, multi-billion-dollar businesses across sectors such as fintech and financial services, technology, consumer, healthcare and industrials. Yet, its ambitions extend beyond pure financial returns.

The investment firm seeks to generate long-term value to support the broader societal goals of the Azim Premji Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation. However, the foundation also has two-thirds of the economic ownership of Wipro to enable on-the-ground, social sector development.

Premji Invest has adopted a perpetual capital model, investing long-term patient capital in high-potential, impactful startups in sync with the foundation’s goals and purpose. It has established a strong foothold in the consumer space, backing leading brands such as Myntra (acquired by Flipkart), Lenskart, GIVA, Purplle, The Sleep Company, WoodenStreet, Organic India, FirstCry and iD Fresh Food, among others.

In an exclusive interaction with Inc42 as part of our ongoing Moneyball series, Chawla delved into the investment approach at Premji Invest, the rationale behind backing WoodenStreet, and his outlook on the rapidly evolving consumer and consumer-tech sectors.

Why Premji Invest Thinks Furniture Is Ripe For A Rebuild

Furniture inhabits that elegant territory that covers both modern and classic, offering user-friendly product lines for contemporary living and one-off designer pieces. Globally, the furniture market is projected to reach a little over $878 Bn by 2032 from $597.7 Bn in 2025. In India, the market may reach $43.2 Bn by 2030 from $30 Bn in 2025. But despite its size and potential, the category remains largely underserved.

“When you look around, you don’t see too many big brands in this space,” said Chawla. “Even globally, beyond names like IKEA, Pottery Barn, or Williams-Sonoma, there aren’t many you can recall. And that’s largely because it’s a hard business to build.”

A major challenge is the fragmented nature of supply and demand. Raw materials like wood are often sourced far from end markets, adding to logistics issues. Again, manufacturing at scale requires skilled resources, large-scale........

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