India’s Ikea-backed home decoration startup is ready to go global

Anuj Srivastava has done quite a lot since creating Livspace in 2012: he’s grown the home decoration service to cover seven cities across India, amassed a couple thousand employees, and pulled in funding from global furniture retailer Ikea.

And now he’s ready to make the next big leap.

The co-founder and CEO says he’s evaluating a number of countries where he can take Livspace, which combines decorators, designers, and online sales of furniture and all the other things needed for a complete, one-stop service.

Photo credit: Brett Jordan

Srivastava, 46, tells Tech in Asia he’s “scoping out” Southeast Asia, but he feels the model works well in pretty much any country.

“We’re extensively studying [new markets], both from the demand side and the supply side,” he adds, referencing consumer demand as well as the availability of designers and contractors who’d be keen to sign up.

While the next destination hasn’t been picked out yet, the ex-Google executive is “looking at the next six, seven, eight markets” that would make sense for geographic expansion.

Ikea-backed Livspace will be sustained by the US$98 million it has raised from other big-name investors such as Goldman Sachs and Jungle Ventures.

Wherever the startup heads to, Srivastava has a rubric for the ideal conditions that suit its service: a rising middle class, a migratory or urbanizing population accompanied by a large number of new housing projects, a younger generation that trusts online stores and services, and a fragmented landscape of interior designers and contractors.

That all describes India very well – but it’s also apt for many fast-developing nations.

The art of deco

The fact that it’s rather hard to explain how Livspace works points to how unique it is. It’s sometimes compared to Ikea by the media, but the CEO says that’s “inaccurate” – his startup isn’t a retail business, and it won’t just sell you, say, a rug or a sofa.

Anuj Srivastava, CEO / Photo credit: Livspace

Also, it’s not really an online store, as there are no listings to browse. In many ways, it’s more like Uber than Ikea – it’s bringing together a bunch of entities to provide a service in a way that’s more convenient than how it’s been typically done.

Growing marketplace

That’s a spicy meatball

Repeat customers