Livspace turns unicorn with $180 million funding led by KKR

Home interior and renovation platform Livspace has raised $180 million in a funding round led by US-based private equity firm KKR.

The startup says the investment took its valuation to over $1billion, catapulting it into the coveted unicorn club.

The fundraising witnessed participation from existing investors such as Ingka Group Investments (part of IKEA retailer Ingka Group), Jungle Ventures, Venturi Partners, and Peugeot Investments, among others.

The funding will be utilised to support the company’s expansion plans. Livspace said it will enter new markets, double down on brand building in India and Singapore, and continue investing in its platform technology and supply chain.

This comes at a time when more consumers are moving online owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and signing up for a spate of services offered by tech start-ups.

The omni-channel startup, which offers end-to-end home interiors and renovation services, says it plans to hire talent across the board to support both new and existing businesses.

The capital will also be used towards strategic investments in companies to help them scale and grow faster, it says. The company recently acquired a majority stake in Qanvast, a Singapore-based home remodelling and design platform.

The investment will help us scale our business 10x in the coming duration, says Anuj Srivastava, co-founder and CEO of Livspace. “Our business is growing exponentially in both India and Singapore and we aim to replicate this playbook, launch new solutions and accelerate our launches across new markets with operations across APAC, MENA and Australia.”

Livspace is private equity giant KKR’s latest growth technology investment in India and adds to other recent bets in the region including eyewear retailer Lenskart.

Founded by Ramakant Sharma and Srivastava in 2015, Livspace currently serves Singapore and Malaysia, as well as 30 metro and non-metro areas in India. It claims to have delivered over 100,000 rooms and sold over 7.5 million SKUs through its platform.

The company has so far raised around $450 million in capital from global investors including KKR, Ingka Group Investments, TPG Growth, Goldman Sachs, Kharis Capital, Venturi Partners, FFP (Peugeot Group’s Holding Company), EDBI, Bessemer Venture Partners, Jungle Ventures, Helion Ventures and UC-RNT.

India has 83 startup unicorns with a total valuation of $277.77 billion as of January 14, 2022, according to the Economic Survey 2021-22. The country added a record 44 unicorn startups in 2021, overtaking UK to “emerge as the third highest country in number of unicorns after US and China which added 487 and 301 unicorns respectively in 2021,” the survey says.

The survey highlights that Delhi has replaced Bangalore as the startup capital of India over the recent years. More than 5,000 recognised startups were added in Delhi while 4,514 startups were added in Bangalore between April 2019 and December 2021. Maharashtra on the other hand has the highest number of recognised startups with a total of 11,308 startups.

The country may see as many as 45 unicorns in the next 12-18 months as more consumers are subscribing to digital services offered by new age companies, nudging investors to bet on the country’s growing league of start-ups, Fortune India reported last month.