Bollywood actor and film producer Aamir Khan has invested around ₹1.9 crore ($300,000) in Bangalore-based online furniture rental startup Furlenco. The investment was made by Aamir Khan in his personal capacity.
The company has raised around ₹7.7 crore ($1.2 million) in this round, which is basically a debt funding round. Apart from Aamir Khan, four other individual investors have also participated in this round. All the investors were given non-convertible debentures
With this investment, Aamir Khan now joins the likes of other Bollywood celebrities who have invested in startups, which includes Hrithik Roshan, Alia Bhatt, Shilpa Shetty, among others.
When a celebrity invests in a startup, he/she usually becomes the brand ambassador or face of the company. However, Aamir Khan won’t be endorsing the online furniture startup.
Furlenco was founded in 2012 by Ajith Karimpana, former vice president at Goldman Sachs. He holds an MS in computer and information science from Temple University (the US).
Initially, the company was operating under the name Rent Ur Duniya, but later rebranded to Furlenco in the year 2013. It designs own furniture and gets it manufactured by third-party vendors.
The startup operates an online furniture renting platform that offers home furniture on subscription basis in Bengaluru, Delhi – NCR, Mumbai and Pune. So far, the company has managed to raise around $30 million in equity and debt funding from Lightbox Ventures, Hong Kong-based venture capital fund Axis Capital and others.