Startups Revolutionize India's Home Interiors with DIY Materials Marketplace
India's home interior landscape is undergoing a significant transformation as startups create dedicated marketplaces for do-it-yourself materials, empowering homeowners to directly source tiles, laminates, and finishes. This shift is attracting substantial investor interest, with early-stage backers recognizing a large, under-utilized opportunity estimated at approximately $14 billion.
The Rise of Materials-Focused Platforms
While large, late-stage investments continue to flow into end-to-end interior design platforms, capital is now spreading across different layers of the interiors value chain. Investors are increasingly betting that organizing the materials layer—including tiles, laminates, wallpapers, and panels—could become a substantial standalone opportunity.
In a prominent example, Stellaris Venture Partners and Accel have invested $10 million in a Series A round in Material Depot, a Bengaluru-based platform focused on interior and decorative materials. The funding round also saw participation from Whiteboard Capital, DeVC, Soma Capital, and MyAsiaVC, along with angel investors including Livspace founder Ramakant Sharma and Curefoods CEO Ankit Nagori.
"Traditionally, this has been a very unorganised category, run by small family-owned shops. Nobody was solving discovery for the modern Indian consumer," said Manish Reddy, co-founder of Material Depot.
Hybrid Business Model and Expansion Plans
Founded in 2022 by Reddy and co-founder Sarthak Agarwal, Material Depot operates a hybrid model with product discovery happening online and purchases taking place at large-format experience centers spanning 8,000-10,000 square feet.
"Customer acquisition happens online, but conversion happens offline," Reddy explained, highlighting the company's unique approach to bridging digital and physical retail experiences.
The fresh capital will be deployed across technology development, supply chain expansion, and geographic growth. The company plans to enter Hyderabad within the next three months, followed by expansion into other major metros and tier-I cities. Over the next 12-18 months, Material Depot aims to expand to more than 30 experience centers across multiple cities and serve over 50,000 customers.
Market Dynamics and Competitive Landscape
According to a recent report by Mordor Intelligence, India's overall interior design market is estimated at $35.48 billion in 2026 and is projected to grow to $65.01 billion by 2031, at a compound annual growth rate of 12.87%. The research firm attributes this growth to urbanization, DIY-tech adoption, hybrid work arrangements, sustainability demand, and consumption growth in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
The materials segment has also begun attracting interest from adjacent players. Last year, Infra.Market was reported to be stepping up its push into interior materials, home finishing, and lifestyle categories. Founders Souvik Sengupta and Aditya Sharda expect this segment to scale up to about 40% of overall revenue over the next few years, from around 30% currently.
Competition in the broader home interior segment has been intensifying with several notable developments:
- PharmEasy co-founders Dharmil Sheth, Dhaval Shah, and Hardik Dedhia have launched All Home, a brand-building and enablement platform
- Singapore-based home décor startup Livspace raised $50 million in internal funding from its parent entity in April last year
- HomeLane acquired peer Design Cafe
- Flipspaces secured $50 million in its Series C round in September last year
Changing Consumer Behavior and Market Opportunities
"Consumers want to be deeply involved in how their homes look, but there is still no trusted one-stop solution," said Rahul Chowdhri, partner at Stellaris Venture Partners.
Pratik Agarwal, partner at Accel, noted that "Home materials in India remain a low-trust, supplier-led market, even as homeowners have evolved into informed, design-driven decision makers."
Chowdhri added that post-pandemic behavior and social media exposure have increased homeowner willingness to spend on aesthetics and finishes. He emphasized that the materials-led interiors segment represents a large and under-institutionalized market with rising consumer spend and no clear institutional leader.
Reddy highlighted Material Depot's advantage from India's manufacturing depth in decorative materials, stating that "Nearly 80% of our manufacturing is in India, which gives us a structural supply-chain advantage."
While homeowners remain Material Depot's primary focus, demand from commercial, retail, and hospitality projects is emerging, with about 5-10% of current demand already coming from these sectors.
This evolving market dynamic represents a fundamental shift in how Indians approach home interiors, with startups creating new pathways for consumers to engage directly with materials selection while bypassing traditional interior design intermediaries.
