KKR-backed home interior platform Livspace earmarks $100 million for asset acquisitions

Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli in an ad for home and interiors platform Livspace.

Private equity firm KKR-backed home interior unicorn Livspace has earmarked $100 million to buy assets in the home interiors and renovation segment, a move that will help the company incubate brands across its domestic and international markets as it looks to achieve profitability over the next 12-18 months.

Livspace will be investing in brands in the home decor, interiors, renovation, and ancillary segments, the company said in a statement on October 10. The investments will help the company in growing faster across its international markets including India, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Middle East. Livspace will use its internal accruals, Anuj Srivastava, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Livspace told Moneycontrol.

“Given our recent fundraise, we have a very strong balance sheet. Not only as we are adequately funded for profitability, but we will also start generating positive cash flows soon,” said Srivastava.

“During the last fundraise earlier this year, we had announced we will look at strategic investments in brands that accelerate our time-to-market by adding specialised services, talent, and infrastructure across geographies,” he added.

Livspace will be investing in content destinations, direct-to-consumer interior brands, private labels and in sectors providing omnichannel retail solutions across logistics, supply chain, merchandising and demand aggregation amongst others, the company said.

Srivastava said the company is in ‘active conversations’ with brands across India and Southeast Asia and it plans to deploy the $100 million corpus over the next 12-15 months. Livspace will also look to invest in brands in the Middle East to grow faster in the region. He also said that most companies that Livspace will be investing in, would continue to operate independently.

Livspace, which had raised $180 million in its unicorn round earlier this year, led by private equity giant KKR, said that it has already deployed a part of the capital by buying a majority stake in Qanvast, a home design platform in Singapore that connects homeowners and professionals in a visually stimulating environment.

“Within our Southeast Asia ecosystem, Qanvast occupies a very important space as Southeast Asia’s largest content-led marketplace for home renovation,” Ankit Shah, Chief Strategy Officer, Livspace, told Moneycontrol.

“This not only allows our studio partners to get connected with homeowners looking to get their homes renovated but also allows us to offer them more value-added services through our digital supply chain,” Shah added.

Founded in 2015 by Srivastava, Shagufta Anurag, and Ramakant Sharma, Livspace’s platform enables homeowners to discover thousands of pre-created looks for all rooms, kitchens, and storage areas in their homes. The company is based in Singapore but claims to have operations in more than 45 cities across Southeast Asia, India, and the Gulf region. According to Tracxn, the company has raised over $500 million to date and is valued at $1.2 billion.

Srivastava claimed that Livspace’s business grew 400 percent in the past 24 months and the company has grown 100 percent in the last six months.

“We will be closing new orders worth $350-400 million by the September quarter and touch $650-700 million in 2023. While India operations are already profitable, we are targeting company-wide profitability over the next 12-18 months,” Srivastava stated.