IKEA's India partner invests in a home design startup that may in turn serve the Swedish retailer

• Livspace has raised funding from Ingka Group – a franchise partner of IKEA.
• The Ingka Group owns and operates 367 IKEA stores – including IKEA India.
• Livspace had last raised $70 million in a series C round in September 2018.

Indian home design and renovation startup Livspace has raised funding from Ingka Group – a key franchise partner of Swedish furniture giant, IKEA.

The Ingka Group which owns and operates 367 IKEA stores contributing to 90% of IKEA’s total retail sales --- made a minority investment in Livspace, today. The details of this deal are yet unknown.

“This minority investment aligns closely with the digital direction of Ingka Group and our core business, IKEA Retail,” said Krister Mattsson, Head of Ingka Investments, Ingka Group.

In September 2018, Livspace raised $70 million in a Series C round funding from TPG Growth and Goldman Sachs, along with its existing investors Jungle Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Helion Ventures.

Livspace, launched in 2015, brings together homeowners and designers and vendors, to ease home design with streamlined communication.

“We look forward to the immense collaboration possibilities in areas such as catalogue and marketplace integration, retail technology, and online-to-offline innovations,” said Anuj Srivastava, co-founder and CEO of Livspace.

This fresh funding will help the startup develop more products and take them to newer markets.

The Ingkar Group also runs the single store in India at Hyderabad – which launched in August 2018 amidst much fanfare.

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