Fourth Tap: Pabio ‘Rent jaw-dropping interior’

It’s been a looong day without you my friend… So let’s not waste more time and start exploring Pabio

About Pabio

Pabio is here to be your right hand when it comes to interior architecture. It offers furniture subscriptions monthly for up to 4 years. Either you want to upgrade your existing home partially or whole, Pabio will help you.

The thing I love the most about Pabio is that it gives you freedom. You do not have to buy everything it suggests. In fact you do not have to buy, you can rent it as well. It is tailor-made for your style and most importantly it is affordable.

The starting point of Pabio roots back to the co-founders When the co-founders visited their friend, they realized not everybody has great furniture. Because it is expensive and doesn’t make sense if you rent an apartment and don’t know how long you’re going to stay in it. This is how they come up with the rental furniture idea. They simply wanted to make interior design affordable and available to people.

They have a heroic goal; to democratize beautiful living. These perfectly matched words ‘democratize’ ‘beautiful’ ‘living’ made me feel bonded to Pabio, this is maybe why I am writing this blog.

After all this excitement from me as a white collar employee with no kids, this is no wonder their early adopters are DINKs (double income, no kids), expats, retirees, and recently divorced men. Pabio is only available in Switzerland and Germany for now. If I was living there, I would definitely use Pabio for a stylish living room. Yet I would be skeptical about using it for my personal room (bed, closet) considering it should be personal.

The Business Model

Well, this is the tricky part in this blog. Because I have no idea. The price list of Pabio services can be seen below;

These prices include consultation on interior design, the product, the shipment, the assembly, the insurance and the customer services. I really do not know how much Pabio makes from these prices. I only know that their monthly recurring revenue has been growing at 100% since it was launched in March 2021.

This rate alone does not mean anything. Because it may have one customer in the first month and two in the second.

Long story short; sorry folks… I could not say something valuable. But I believe that with a meaningful business plan, these operations can generate good profits.

The Sector

Interior architecture is such an elite need, yet this can’t be denied that everybody craves for an esthetic habitat. There are studies showing that we will be more domestic compared to pre-covid19. For me, this holds true. For everyone? Not sure. So I cannot count on this reason for the growth of interior architecture. But I believe as the construction activities increase, and our standards of living improves, we will be more demanding of interior architecture. The more we go up in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there will be more people appointing an interior architect. When one reaches the self actualism stage, that one will be striving for creativity, aesthetic and all the other things for a total fulfillment sentiment. This is why as the average income level rises, the demand for interior architects rises.

Also the industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4% making it worth USD 24 Billion in between 2021–2025. The fastest growing market is forecasted to be APAC due to increasing constructions in the developing countries such as China and India. Yet the USA holds the largest market because of the rising disposable income of the people in the country.

The Competition

By now, you should learn that every blog post I write is about a startup I believe in. Yet, it is not just about the company, it is also about the sector it’s in. If I write about a startup, this is also because I see a potential in its sector and its competitors.

I see a potential in online furniture renting. Because the next generations are more esthetic conscious, they are constantly searching for better visual and better content. I believe when they grow up, they will continue to look out for better content not only on the internet but their surroundings as well. As a result, it would not bother them to put more effort into transforming their habitat for the sake of creativity.

Also, furniture renting fits very well into this decade’s biggest trend; sustainability. It diminishes the furniture waste and optimizes the furniture allocation.

Specific to Pabio, the system looks safe and clean. I checked Pabio’s customer ratings. I wonder if they were all written by the founders’ friends, because they are all extremely good. Also it is a relief to know that your furniture is fully insured. Plus, you can buy the rented furniture if you like it so much. Bingo!

Sure there are other great players in the industry like Rentchester, Feather, Fernish and Nickson. You can check them as well if you are interested.

The Team

Pabio has 2 co-founders;

• Carlo Badini — CEO
• Anand Chowdhary — CTO

Both of the co-founders have co-founded other startups in the past, now they aligned their forces to create Pabio. They did not really know each other until they decided to establish Pabio. I have mixed feelings for the co-founders who do not know each other before taking such a huge step together. I believe it is good for keeping professionalism, but also risky. What do you think? Do you have any related experience? If yes, what did it look like? All opinions are welcomed in the comments :)

The Future

Their recent investment of 1 mn USD was made last summer, and there are rumors that they will receive another investment of 2.2 mn USD from Serpentine Ventures, Session VC, Tomahawk, Pioneer Fund and DD Venture Capital.

In December 2021, they expanded into Germany. I believe the result of this expansion will be a breaking point for the startup. If they can make it there, the next investments and a great success will follow. We’ll see!