LivSpace goes on acquisition spree, carves space in India’s home design and décor market

Bangalore-based home design and décor startup LivSpace announced today that it has acquired Dwll.in, a curated online network for interior designers. This is the LivSpace’s second acquisition in two months. The company acquired DezignUp – a design community and marketplace for consumers and design professionals, in March this year. The acquisition amount was not disclosed.

Founded in 2012 by architect and designer Shagufta Anurag long with IIT Kanpur alumni Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma, LivSpace aims to cement its position in the home design and décor industry with these acquisitions.

“We have pioneered India’s end-to-end home design experience and curated marketplace for homeowners and designers. These strategic acquisitions are means to dial up our endeavours several notches, and be a game changer in this space,” Srivastava tells Tech in Asia.

Dwll has a curated network of well-qualified designers across India. A user with renovation/designing needs can reach out to this network with his/her requirements and hire the designer that responds with the best design option. The company handles projects ranging from US$3,100 to US$235,000.

As part of the acquisition, the co-founders of Dwll, Pankaj Poddar and Parikshat Hemrajani, along with its core team will join LivSpace.

“The Dwll team has deep knowledge regarding the working of the home design industry in India. The company has a strong designer network and consumer-centric focus. With this acquisition, we aim to create a comprehensive catalogue of home designs for homeowners, and the largest curated community marketplace for home designers,” says Srivastava.

LivSpace claims to be performing well across all its key growth metrics (user traffic, engagement, Facebook followers, GMV, and number of customers), and projects a run-rate of over US$10 million in the next couple of months.

The startup also claims to have achieved 400 percent more social and community engagement than any of its competitors in India. “We now have a community of over 300,000 homeowners in just four months, which is faster than most companies in India. The engagement rate with our content is 200 percent more than Houzz.com – the leader in the US,” says Srivastava.

In December 2014, the startup raised its first round of funding of US$4.6 million from Helion Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Jungle Ventures.

Talking about LivSpace’s future expansion plans, Srivastava stated that the company aims to grow across top metros in India soon. It would work very closely with its channel partners, which includes developers, designer marketplaces like Dwll and DezignUp, and online real estate portals, in order to scale up its business. The company also plans to increase its headcount and hire talented engineers, designers, data scientists, and go-to-market professionals to manage its growth.

LivSpace competes with a number of fast growing home decor and furnishing startups like BedBathMore and Urban Ladder; that recently raised US$50 million in series C funding from Sequoia Capital and TR Capital. Earlier this month, BedBathMore, backed by Blume Ventures and Creative Group, acquired Homado, a marketplace for interior designers. LivSpace allows its users to hire designers to customize products as per their requirements. This acts as the company’s key differentiator.