GAIA Design has raised more capital to become the West Elm of Mexico – TechCrunch

Designing higher end furniture for Mexico’s rising middle and upper-middle class consumers has netted the Mexico City-based GAIA $15 million in a new round of funding.

The bridge round will take the company through to a much larger capital raise planned for 2021 as the company capitalizes on the growth of e-commerce in Mexico.

A 2019 report from JP Morgan put the e-commerce market in Mexico at around $22.6 billion, and that’s with online sales only accounting for just 1.7% of the overall retail market. JP Morgan expects the market to increase at a 12.6% growth rate annually.

As with everything else, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital services as the country’s population looks to practice safe social distancing and reduce the spread of the virus. For those consumers who can afford to shop online — even for high value products like furniture —…