Livspace, a home renovation, and interior platform, has announced a $180 million Series F funding round, taking the company’s valuation above the billion-dollar mark, making it the 7th unicorn this year. The round was led by American investment firm KKR & Co with participation from Swedish retail giant Ikea, Venturi Partners, Jungle Ventures, and Peugeot.
This is the company’s second major round of funding over the last 15 months, following a $90 million Series D round backed by consumer space-focused Venturi Partners and Switzerland-based investment firm Kharis Capital in September 2020.
Livspace will use the funds to expand into new markets, concentrate on brand building in India and Singapore, invest in its platform technology as well as digitally integrated supply chain, and attract, develop, and nurture talent across the board to facilitate both new and existing businesses.
Commenting on the fundraise, Ramakant Sharma, Co-founder, and COO of Livspace, said, “As the largest player in this industry, we look to expand our spectrum of new offerings for the homeowner, create the best technology for our marketplace partners, and deliver dream homes to our customers across all geographies. With the fresh investments, we are well set up to launch new solutions for homeowners and become the go-to platform brand for all things home.”
Livspace, founded in 2014 by Ramakant Sharma, and Anuj Srivastava, is a curated marketplace that offers a full-service home design experience. The startup’s online marketplace also provides software solutions to facilitate designers and homeowners with interior design. It claims to have a footprint in nine metro cities including Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.
The seven-year-old startup has worked on the design of more than 20,000 homes. Last year, the company stated that it planned to target 80 markets, with strong attention on the Middle East. To gain a foothold in the Middle East market, it launched a joint venture with Alsulaiman Group. In India, Livspace faces stiff competition with Bengaluru-based Homelane among other startups in a mainly unorganized sector for house redesigns, interior design, and custom furniture.
Livspace has become the 50th unicorn since January 2021, and the 86th unicorn from India, according to Unicorn Tracker. ElasticRun entered the elite club on Monday, following a $300 million round led by SoftBank. Last month, social commerce platform DealShare and HR tech startup Darwinbox received fresh funding at a valuation of more than $1 billion. Fractal, an analytics solutions provider, LEAD, an ed-tech startup, and Mamaearth, a mother care brand, are also on the list of turned unicons in 2022.
