Designing a financial journey for Livspace

Livspace is an end-to-end home design community platform bringing together homeowners, interior designers, furniture/decor manufacturers and suppliers. It approached debt as a source of additional flexibility, to have a level of ‘insurance’ in case of unpredictable deviations from its business plan. Post demonetization, the demand for interior design and home improvement was temporarily affected, leading to some of these deviations.

We advised Livspace to consider debt at around the same time that it raised equity from some marquee VCs like Bessemer Venture Partners and Jungle Ventures. Timing the debt along with the round allowed an availability of higher debt and a bigger cushion for the company in an ever-changing market.

Using debt gave Livspace the ability to continue on its growth trajectory. The company could double down on investments in its team and partner designer network, without undue pressure on cutting costs or scaling back aspirations. Livspace now works with 500+ designers every month, and this has enabled a substantial improvement in the company’s ability to bring in the right equity partners at the right terms in subsequent rounds of fundraising. Livspace has attracted further capital from reputed investors such as TPG, Goldman Sachs, IKEA and many more, and we have continued to participate in the company's growth journey with multiple investments.