Why Pidilite invested in Pepperfry

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Editor's note: Occasionally, amid the relentless announcements of X company raises Y million dollars, there will be one that flies under the radar but shouldn’t. A month ago, online furniture seller Pepperfry raised $40 million in a Series F funding round. The ups and downs of India’s furniture and home decor startups—as they realized that selling beds and sofas online is not quite the same as selling smartphones and books—make for an interesting story in and of itself. But what stood out about Pepperfry’s fundraise, decidedly modest by the standards of tech startups today, is that the lead investor was not your usual venture capital or private equity fund, but Pidilite Industries. Pidilite is the last name you would think of in startup funding. The 60-year-old publicly listed company is best known for manufacturing adhesives, particularly under the iconic Fevicol brand. Apart from a handful of consumer brands (think glue sticks and Fevikwik super glue), is a stolidly B2B, or business-to-business, company. “Why Pepperfry?” is an obvious question, but with a particularly interesting answer. In a nutshell, as the internet economy grows …