Laurel & Wolf Announces $4.4 Million In Series A Venture Funding

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Laurel & Wolf, the leading online interior design marketplace that launched six months ago, announces Series A venture funding of $4.4 million led by Charles River Ventures.  Laurel & Wolf is an online platform where users virtually create a room profile, pay a one-time flat fee and receive designs from multiple interior designers. Once a client selects the designer they like best, they begin a revision period with their designer to perfect and customize their space. All designs consider the client's overall budget, style, needs, and how the space should function. Once revisions are finalized, client's walk away with a style board, furniture plan, instructions from the designer, and a shopping list.

First time founder, Leura Fine and Co-Founder, Brandon Kleinman, began creating this seamless digital experience just a year ago, launching six months later democratizing interior design by creating opportunity for growth in a segment of the design industry that had not moved into the digital age. By building an online marketplace for individuals and designers to connect and collaborate, anyone with any budget can now receive professional design services for a one time fixed rate and designers are able to expand their customer reach and market their own personal brands.

"As a designer myself, working with a variety of budgets and spaces, I saw that technology had drastically shifted the way people were approaching designing their homes and businesses," said Leura Fine, CEO and Founder mentions. "Pinterest and Houzz were often used for inspiration and e-commerce had made better looking products accessible to customers at a wide array of price-points, so it seemed that everything around interior design was moving into the future, except for design services. The ability to create this marketplace that easily bridges the gap between designers and customers is something we are very proud of. Not only does it allow for a way for our designers to reach new audiences, but it allows us the ability to control quality and price, ease for customers and tools necessary for everyone to have the opportunity to design the life they deserve."

CAPITAL RAISED BY TOP VENTURE FIRMS AND NOTED INVESTORS:

Charles River Ventures was joined by Karlin Ventures, Upside Partnership, and Draper & Associates to continue to provide users from across the country affordable interior design. With a total raise of $5.5 Million in funding since launch, the design platform has on-boarded over 600 interior designers nationally, is rapidly expanding their team and is planning on unveiling a variety of first-of-their-kind features available to both users and designers this year.

"We are absolutely thrilled to partner with Leura and her team at Laurel & Wolf," said Annie Kadavy, Partner, Charles River Ventures. "As a former interior designer herself, she has a deep understanding of her market, there are many macro trends that led us to invest and we felt her and her team to be a great fit for us personally. Traditional interior design services, a $50B+ market in the US, require a lot of time and money, often still not resulting in satisfactory results for the <1% of people who can afford it. Historically, only interior designers had access to premium inventory and it was a 1:1 relationship between designer and client. However, in the past few years furniture has outpaced all other categories to move online and today many major retailers already sell nearly 50% online. The number of options is now paralyzing to consumers and having an accessible expert to guide them is invaluable."

ABOUT LAUREL & WOLF
Laurel & Wolf is the world's leading online interior design marketplace, providing online interior design services for residential and commercial spaces all over the US. Laurel & Wolf uses an online platform for users to create a room profile, pay a one-time flat fee and receive designs from multiple professional interior designers. All the designs consider the client's overall budget and how the space should function. Clients walk away with a style board, furniture plan, instructions from the designer, and a shopping list! Founded by the lead designer of Los Angeles' most prestigious interior design firm and a successful tech entrepreneur, Laurel & Wolf is making professional interior design accessible and affordable for everyone. Laurel & Wolf believes in the power of great design and how it can transform the way we live, work, and love. For more information, please visit www.laurelandwolf.com and follow on Instagram and Twitter at @Laurelandwolf

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRikeviHG80

SOURCE Laurel & Wolf