A source familiar with the plans of the company said online home-furnishings site Wayfair has launched a $150 million fundraising campaign. The source, who refused to be named, said the fundraising has put the company's valuation at around $2 billion, of which Reuters underscored the investor appeal of a few online retailers.
The news about the funding followed rival One King's Lane's own fundraising. On Thursday, Reuters said One King's Lane was able to nab $112 million, putting the company's valuation to around fairly significant $912 million.
Telling the news agency late Thursday night, the source said the Wayfair funding round was led by T. Rowe Price. Reuters noted that the mutual fund giant had been making several investments in companies that are in their early stages in the last few years, which included an investment in Twitter prior to the microblogging giant's own IPO.
When asked by Reuters about the fundraising, spokeswomen for both Wayfair and T. Rowe Price refused to comment on the matter.
Reuters said that the last time Wayfair has raised funds was in 2012. Investors, which include Battery Ventures, Great Hill Partners, HarbourVest Partners and Spark Capital contributed $36 million for Wayfair at the end of 2012.
The source also said that despite the fact that Wayfair is trailing from industry giant Williams-Sonoma in terms of sales, it has been noted that the firm's business is growing at a fast pace. In 2013, total sales of Wayfair were at $1 billion, which was a significant increase from the $600 million in sales it posted the previous year, the source added.
Analysts have said that at the moment, only a small percentage of home goods are available for purchase online. However, it could change as more people who have been accustomed to shop online will be of age and will be furnishing their homes with online store-bought items.
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