SUMMARY
Neo is a proprietary design-to-manufacturing -to-installation platform
It aims to onboard 2500 partners and expand across India, Southeast Asia
Livspace recently raised $90 Mn from Kharis Capital, Venturi Partners, and others
Bengaluru-based home design and decor service provider Livspace has decided to invest $30 Mn in its latest modular solutions platform Neo, which is its proprietary design-to-manufacturing -to-installation platform.
The $30 Mn investment will be used for further development of the technology and launching multiple multiple private labels in the modular solutions space across 30 markets in India and in Southeast Asia. The company claimed that each of these labels will be designed to meet a different functional, aesthetic or price point needs of customers.
A part of the fund will also be used to onboard over 2500 ecosystem partners including franchisees, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), modular furniture, kitchen and wardrobe brands, and more in the next nine months.
The design and decor service provider had launched Neo towards the end of 2019. The company, during its pilot run, noted that the productivity of the designers and installers had doubled. Meanwhile, the utilisation for onboarded Livspace manufacturing partners has nearly tripled from 25-30% to 80% leading to higher profits. Raw material suppliers, too, enjoy a steady and greater inflow of business and ease of digitally managing logistics, the company said in its press release.
Livspace was founded in 2014 by Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma. It is a curated marketplace for homeowners and home designers that provides an end-to-end home design experience. This includes an online marketplace for home interior solutions as well as software tools for designers to streamline workflow.
It currently has its presence across nine metro cities and designed over 20K homes. It marked its entry in Singapore last year. It had raised $90 Mn in Series D funding from Kharis Capital, Venturi Partners, FFP, Peugeot Group’s holding company and EDBI, Ingka Investments, TPG Growth, Goldman Sachs, UC-RNT and Bessemer Ventures.
The company planned to use that fund to expand its supply chain and presence across new markets, create fresh offerings and private labels in the Asia Pacific (APAC) regions. The company is also evaluating other countries such as Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia in the APAC region and the Middle East as its next markets.
Livspace’s top competitors include At Home Group, Pepperfry, Stokers, HomeLane and American Furniture Warehouse. HomeLane too is looking to expand its services to new markets and has been raising funding for the same. Last month, it raised over $8.1 Mn (INR 60 Cr) from Stride Ventures, Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, Evolvence India and JSW Ventures.
