Modular sofa startup Burrow raises $14M

We’ve described Burrow as a startup that brings a Casper-style approach to sofas, so perhaps it’s no surprise that the company has raised funding from one of Casper’s investors.

Burrow is announcing a $14 million Series A led by New Enterprise Associates. Correlation Ventures also participated in the round, as did previous investors Red & Blue Ventures and Y Combinator Continuity. (The startup went through the YC accelerator back in 2016.)

When Burrow raised a $4.3 million seed round at the end of last year, it said it was growing 20 percent each month, and its manufacturing facilities had just moved from Mexico City to Mississippi.

Burrow’s Stephen Kuhl said that after a successful 2017, he and his co-founder Kabeer Chopra decided to start fundraising again at the end of January. One of their big goals was to enlist NEA’s Tony Florence — who also backed Casper and Jet.com. Now, Florence is joining Burrow’s board of directors.

“Direct-to-consumer commerce is an increasingly important category, particularly in verticals that have seen little innovation in the way products are built, marketed and distributed,” Florence said in an emailed statement. “The furniture market is ripe for disruption, and Burrow can deliver the quality, value, and convenience that consumers demand from ecommerce shopping experiences. We’re excited to partner with Stephen and his team as they tackle this tremendous opportunity.”

The startup’s main product is a sofa with a modular design, making it easy to move and adjust in different living spaces. (You can buy it in one- to four-seat configurations, with the three-seater currently priced at $1,095.) The modules are delivered in relatively compact boxes, and assembly is only supposed to take 10 minutes, with no tools required.

The lineup has expanded to include an ottoman and a chaise sectional couch, and Burrow also recently added the option to include wooden legs.

Kuhl told me the new funding will allow Burrow to hire aggressively, open additional factories and introduce new, non-sofa products — the plan is to turn the company into “an entire home lifestyle brand.”

“We want to be known for not making people compromise,” he added. “Whether it’s price, quality, convenience, experience, comfort — any of those things, we want to provide the best overall experience.”