Livspace, an omni-channel home interior and renovation paltform, has allocated $100 million to invest in and incubate brands and content destinations across markets in the home decor, interior, renovation and ancillary segments, said a senior company official.
Backed by investors such as KKR, Venturi Partners and Jungle Ventures, the company plans to create its own ‘house of brands’ business and expand it to markets such as India, Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East, said Anuj Srivastava, co-founder and chief executive, Livspace.
The company had acquired a majority stake in Qanvast, a Singapore-based home design platform last December.
“Currently, we are looking at deal sizes in the $15-50 million range, and it also varies depending on the final synergies and conversations,” he added.
Livspace is looking to invest in content destinations, direct-to-consumer interior brands, private labels and to further bolster its home space consolidation plans. It will also focus on investing in sectors such as omni-channel retail solutions across logistics, supply chains, merchandising and demand aggregation.
According to Srivastava, as the company continues to scale and enter new markets, it is looking for successful business models that will help it scale faster.
“We are looking at ideas, technologies and people that bring in additional functional expertise to drive better outcomes for all our stakeholders. In line with this, we plan to invest across all stages in brands’ lifecycle to help them disrupt the industry further,” he added.
The fund will be headed by Ankit Shah, chief strategy officer, Livspace.
“Today’s disruptive market combined with the macro-economic environment is driving innovation at every level. This has resulted in exploring new pathways by adding technology and capabilities that will drive profitability. This will help our business across all our markets scale faster, grow our margin stack further and create strong defensible moats,” said Shah in a statement.
Earlier this year, the company raised a $180 million funding round led by KKR, valuing it $1.2 billion and making it a part of the coveted unicorn club of startups that are valued at $1 billion or more. In all, Livspace has raised around $450 million from investors.
Founded in 2014 by Ramakant Sharma and Anuj Srivastava, Livspace claims to have delivered more than 125,000 rooms and is selling over 7.5 million items through its platform.
Based in Singapore, Livspace currently has operations in over 45 cities across Southeast Asia, India, and the Gulf region.
In the house of brands segment, Livspace is likely to compete with other brand aggregators such as Mensa Brands and Globalbees, the firm backed by FirstCry.
On the increasing competition in the space, Srivastava said, “Over the years, we have built a technology platform and a business model that enables us to launch any home-related offering in any geography and then scale it quickly.”
“We are on a high growth trajectory, and we have more than doubled our business in the last 12 months. Livspace is building and creating a high growth and sustainable business with strong profitability. We are the largest and fastest growing company in the interiors and renovation industry and are very well funded to achieve our growth and profitability plans. Over the next 18-24 months, we will further expand our footprint - both through geographical expansion and potential inorganic growth,” he added.
