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KKR Leads $180 Million Round for Ikea-Backed Unicorn Livspace

Founded by Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma, Livspace plans to invest the capital in India and Singapore, its core markets.

KKR Leads $180 Million Round for Ikea-Backed Unicorn Livspace
A model living room. (Source: Livspace official website)

Livspace raised $180 million in a funding round led by KKR & Co. at a valuation of more than $1 billion as the online home interiors marketplace prepares to hunt for acquisitions in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Series F round also drew in existing investors including Ikea-parent Ingka Group Investments, Jungle Ventures, Venturi Partners and Peugeot Investments, the Singapore-based startup said in a statement on Tuesday.

KKR Leads $180 Million Round for Ikea-Backed Unicorn Livspace

The company, founded by Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma in 2015 to help consumers furnish homes, plans to use the fresh capital to invest in its core markets of India and Singapore and enter new regions. They include Southeast Asia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Australia, Srivastava said in a video interview.

Livspace will also seek acquisition opportunities. The company recently acquired a majority stake in Qanvast, a Singapore-based home remodeling and design platform. In the Middle East, it has formed a joint venture with the Alsulaiman Group, Ikea’s operating partner in the region. Currently, about 80% of Livspace’s revenue comes from India.

A potential stock-market listing could happen in a few years, Srivastava said. “At this stage, we will continue to stay private and at the right time, we will look at where is the right place to take the company public,” he said.

For KKR, Livspace represents the latest in a series of deals intended to capitalize on Asia’s rising tech wave. Its Southeast Asian investments include Indonesian ride-hailing giant Gojek, online real estate marketplace PropertyGuru and KiotViet, a merchant platform for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The pandemic has triggered a surge in demand for interior remodeling platforms as people spend more time at home, said Srivastava, who is Livspace’s chief executive officer. The company connects customers with designers and vendors, and has about 350 in-house project managers.

Southeast Asia’s internet economy is set to double to $363 billion by 2025, becoming one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets as millions of people in the region come online, according to a report by Google, Temasek Holdings and Bain & Co.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.