Home décor startup Livspace, backed by US private equity firms TPG and KKR, recorded a significant jump in its topline and improved its financial health in the year through March 2023, a top executive told VCCircle.
“We achieved a top-line growth of 85% across the business, with our revenue reaching nearly ₹1,100 crore," Livspace chief strategy officer Ankit Shah said in an interaction.
Shah said that business expansion, investment in branding and experience centres, and improving supply chain helped the company achieve high growth in the fiscal year.
Livspace, which was present in six to seven cities by the end of March 2021, was operating in 45-50 cities by the end of FY23.
In terms of financial health, Livspace’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization or Ebitda margin before employee stock options improved to -50.7% in FY23 from -95.2% in the previous fiscal. This translated into an Ebitda loss before ESOPs of around ₹581 crore from around ₹600 crore in FY22.
Shah said that the company’s absolute gross profit improved by 140% during the year and the real margin improved by 10 percentage points, from around 30% to 40%.
“We have delved deeper into the supply chain. Our efforts and energy have been significantly invested in negotiating with vendors and sourcing materials," he added while explaining how the company lifted its margins in FY23.
“In the past few months, our India business, which constitutes approximately 80% of our operations, has achieved an EBITDA margin before ESOPs in the late teens. We’re looking to break even by the end of this fiscal," Shah said.
Livspace, which was founded in 2014 by Ramakant Sharma and Anuj Srivastava, is an omni-channel home interior and renovation platform with operations across Southeast Asia, India, and the Middle East.
The company last raised $180 million in February 2022 in a funding round led by KKR, valuing it at $1.2 billion and pushing it into the coveted unicorn club. So far, it has raised about $450 million in multiple rounds.
Going ahead, the company is betting big on the growth of India’s real estate market, which is rebounding after the lows of the covid-19 pandemic.
“We’re strengthening our presence in the current 45 cities and plan to expand to around 100 cities in the coming year. This expansion includes adding more experience centres in the cities where we already have a presence," said Shah.