And Burrow makes five: Havenly Brands continues its portfolio expansion
DTC furniture company Burrow is the fifth company to be added to the portfolio of Havenly Brands over the past two years.
DENVER — Direct-to-consumer furniture brand Burrow is now part of Havenly Brands, marking Havenly’s fifth acquisition in two years.
By adding Burrow through an equity and cash deal, Havenly broadens its reach into DTC furnishings with a company that has quick-ship, modular products in a wide range of categories: living room, dining room, bedroom, storage, outdoor and office. Burrow was founded by Stephen Kuhl and Kabeer Chopra and launched in 2017 with the idea of filling a perceived gap in the traditional furnishings marketplace.
Burrow, with annualized revenue of nine figures, has branched out into showrooms since its inception as an online-only company, with four currently in operation in New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. A showroom that opened in 2022 in Atlanta has since closed, but additional Burrow showrooms are planned, said Lee Mayer, CEO of Havenly Brands. “I’m kind of bullish on retail,” she said. “Our intent is to expand.”
In an interview with Furniture Today, Mayer described Burrow as taking a “no-nonsense approach” to furniture retailing. Saying she was “impressed by the scale, design and new products” offered by Burrow, Mayer credited it with being a “well-operated, healthy business.”
She also lauded Burrow and its team for their innovation, citing the Opera media console as an example, while noting the brand holds 40 patents.
“I’ve known Stephen and Burrow for years,” she said, adding they had talked about joining up in the past but hadn’t moved forward with it.
“Burrow fills a unique gap in the market and within our portfolio. We are excited to integrate the Burrow team and apply learnings that will enhance the customer experience across all of our furniture brands,” she said.
Kuhl is expected to stay on until the end of the year to aid with the transition, and maybe beyond. However, Mayer pointed out Kuhl is an entrepreneur and thus may have new ideas to explore. “The vast majority of the team is staying,” said Mayer, although Havenly has its own global product design and marketing teams.
“We have admired Havenly for years and are thrilled to finally join forces,” said Kuhl in a prepared statement. “Lee and I have talked about teaming up since 2019. While there were several potential paths forward, we were drawn to Havenly’s portfolio of best-in-category brands, passion for retail and strong levers for growth.
“At Burrow, we are focused on creating solutions that make people’s lives easier,” he said. “Havenly’s in-house interior design service and successful retail playbook will help accelerate our growth and provide innovative furniture solutions to even more homes.”
Havenly, which started out as and still operates a digital-first interior design platform, has rebranded to Havenly Brands with this latest acquisition to better align with the company’s broader strategy. Its acquisitions in the past couple of years include Interior Define, a provider of custom furniture with 13 design studios nationwide; The Inside, which offers furnishings aimed at the design trade; The Citizenry, a DTC décor brand; and St. Frank, a décor brand focused on soft home.
The plan, said Mayer, is to continue to operate each e-commerce brand separately as a consumer-facing platform, since each brand expression is different, but to merge teams on the back end with shared services.
There is also opportunity for cross selling. A consumer who buys a sofa from Burrow, may in turn by a rug from one of the other brands, she said. It’s all part of the company’s thesis on how it can sell to consumers through Havenly, she said.
Since acquiring The Citzenry in February, Mayer said they’ve “pushed hard into retail,” adding a store-in-a-store in Interior Define’s design studio in Denver, while looking at other locations and re-introducing catalogs. The brand “is growing nicely year-over-year,” said Mayer.
St. Frank, which was purchased in June, requires a bit of a different approach, she explained. The focus there has been on re-evaluating the assortment and pricing, and getting that back in line.
Although acknowledging that “after this deal, I felt I should take a break,” Mayer remains confident there are attractive companies to be added to the Havenly Brands portfolio, even if the “really distressed” properties have gone away. “There are some brands I really love,” she said.
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