BedBathMore acquires startup to help homeowners buy artwork

India’s BedBathMore, an online shopping portal in the home furnishings and trinkets segment, today announced it acquired Crude Area, an art ecommerce store. The deal size, which comprised of stocks, remains undisclosed.

The acquisition is the latest attempt by BedBathMore to expand its home-related product offerings. Last month, it acquired Homado, a marketplace for interior designers to go beyond ecommerce and launch a community-driven platform of 3,000 architects and interior designers.

Three-year-old Crude Area is focused on the discovery of graphic art created by Indian and international artists. It translates graphic art into home decor products such as wall art, framed prints, canvas prints, mugs, and coasters.

With the acquisition, BedBathMore, which owns several labels making things like linen and furniture, expands its own-brand offerings. Crude Area will become an independent white label on the portal. Crude Area’s member team including founders Shweta Bhandari and Falguni Agarwal will join BedBathMore.

$9.4 billion Indian biz

Crude Area had previously raised seed funding from angel investors including MakeMyTrip founder Sachin Bhatia, while BedBathMore is backed by Blume Ventures and home furnishing exporter Creative Group.

According to the company, the home furnishing industry is pegged at INR 600 billion (US$9.4 billion) in India.

BedBathMore competes with sites like Nestopia. It’s also up against a fast-growing array of home decoration and furnishing startups in the country, such as Furlenco, Livspace, and the well-funded Urban Ladder.

Rocket Internet is also in on the action with Fabfurnish, an app that allows users to take pictures of their room and drag and drop items of furniture to get a feel for how they’d look in their home.