Etailing in India is supposed to be grown at about 75% CAGR over the next decade, and likely to reach $60-75 Bn by 2020. In which home furnishings and décor has been marked as very suitable product category and is expected to be consumed by 50% more people.
Marking these numbers there has been various developments in the home décor and furnishing with the latest one as LivSpace, an online home décor startup, acquiring Bangalore-based DezignUp, a dynamic design community and marketplace for design professionals. The amount of the deal is kept undisclosed. Along with the acquisition the LivSpace also plans to add DezignUp’s core team including Saurabh Jain, Arpit Khandelwal and Swati Ailawadi.
With the acquisition Livspace plans to offer a wide variety of choice to homeowners with the online marketplace.
Aakash Goel, vice-president at Bessemer Venture Partners, said the internet business is all about great teams using disruptive technology to bring scale and ease to a complicated problem like home design. “Livspace has pioneered a unique approach and with DezignUp, they’re poised to further accelerate their continuing strong growth and market presence.”
According to Srivastava, “LivSpace has hit a multi-million dollar run rate within a quarter of its launch.” The Bangalore-based startup was founded by former Google and Myntra executives, Anuj Srivastava, Shagufta Anurag and Ramakant Sharma. LivSpace offers a platform that allows users to design, decorate and furnish their dream home. It helps the new home buyers to select interior design for their homes through a catalogue and then buy the combined sets. The company has an in-house design team and selected designers, who build the catalogue.
Prior to this, LivSpace had raised INR 29 Cr. in Series A funding from Helion Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and Jungle Ventures.
Operating in the same space, Pepperfry’s is of the view that there can be at least $2-3 Bn companies ready to enter the 90% unorganised furniture market. Investors believe that etailing in home furnishing is set to grow at 8% CAGR and are investing heavily in the homegrown startups operating in this space. Earlier in the month custom-made furniture etailer, CustomFurnish.com, raised INR 16 Cr. from Serial entrepreneur and MedPlus Group founder and the recent one being Furlenco that raised $6 Mn from Lightbox VC. Urban Ladder, also in the same domain, which acqui-hired BuyNBrag.com, a curated online marketplace for furniture and home decor and also raised funding from Ratan Tata last year.
