Brands
Pepperfry raises Rs 250 cr for expansion
MUMBAI: Pepperfry, a furniture and home marketplace, has raised Rs 250 crore in a fresh round of funding from State Street Global Advisors, the asset management business of State Street Corporation, an investment management company with $ 2.78 trillion in assets under management (AUM).
The fresh funds will be deployed to expand Pepperfry’s experience centres in tier II towns, invest behind developing AR/VR technology for virtual touch and feel, and enhance the private brand franchise in preparation for its next financial milestone of an IPO.
Pepperfry founder and CEO Ambareesh Murty considers the company as fortunate to have partners who believe in Pepperfry’s business and are aligned with their strategy.
Including this current round, Pepperfry has raised over Rs1200 crore of capital since it began operations six years ago.
Home furniture and decor is amongst the largest consumption categories in India, expected to reach Rs 350,000 crore in market size by 2020. Leveraging this opportunity, Pepperfry aims to differentiate across the value chain, build supply and demand side differentiation by working with thousands of small manufacturers, develop an extensive portfolio of private brands, establish an omnichannel footprint of over 25 Pepperfry experience centres and build India’s largest consumer-facing big-box supply chain serving customers in 500 Indian cities.
In the last five years, the company’s revenue has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of over 83 per cent, and with this fresh round of investment, aims to accelerate past the break-even point and become a profitable business over the next 12-18 months.
Brands
LTTS CDO Narayanan Ramanathan steps down
Resignation effective 19 February, company cites personal reasons
CHENNAI: L&T Technology Services Limited announced the resignation of its chief delivery officer and senior management personnel Narayanan Ramanathan, marking a key leadership exit at the engineering services firm.
Ramanathan stepped down from his role, effective at the close of business on 19 February 2026, citing personal reasons. The company accepted the resignation the same day and duly filed all regulatory disclosures related to his cessation.
Based in Chennai, Ramanathan led LTTS’s Digital Products and Manufacturing Services (DPMS) business as a P&L head, overseeing multi-million-dollar operations and large-scale digital transformation programmes. His mandate covered Industry X.0, the Internet of Things, operational technology cybersecurity, robotics, cobots, digital twins, analytics and artificial intelligence.
He joined LTTS in 2018 and spent nearly eight years at the firm, holding several leadership roles before becoming chief delivery officer in November 2024. During his tenure, he worked closely with global capability centres to execute engineering-led digital strategies for international clients.
A technology industry veteran with over 27 years of experience, Ramanathan previously held senior leadership roles at Tech Mahindra, where he served as vice president and global head for connected engineering and analytics, and earlier led integrated engineering solutions across APAC and MEAI markets.
Ramanathan is also the first recipient of the International Galileo Master Award from the European Space Agency. LTTS said there is no additional information to disclose regarding board relationships following his resignation.
