Lifestyle design app is valued at billion USD
Now, Lee’s startup owns one of South Korea’s largest lifestyle apps with a valuation of around $1.6 billion.
The idea to launch Seungjae Lee’s oHouse stemmed from a visit to the new home of a friend who loves interior design – which Lee referred to as “a fateful day”.
“I’ve seen many architectural photos on Pinterest and feel that beautiful homes can only be found in the West,” said Lee from the oHouse office in Seoul in a video interview with Forbes. “When I visited the house of [bạn tôi]I realized that it is completely applicable in Korea… I think places like this can make people’s lives better.”
Lee, 34, founded oHouse in 2014 after graduating with a degree in electrical and chemical engineering from Seoul National University. The platform started as a community to share interior design ideas. oHouse is currently one of the most popular apps on the Korean Internet, with more than 20 million downloads – nearly half of the total Korean population – and 10 million monthly active users on the app and website, according to the website. Bucketplace, the parent company of oHouse.
When the app launched in 2016, interior designers and home improvement hobbyists could post photos of their homes to share their experiences. Users will then go through a wide selection of posts and purchase the items they like directly from the app. Its business model is similar to Houzz, which also has a range of online home design models.
Korea’s new unicorn
At the beginning of May, oHouse successfully raised capital in a series D round with $182 million, bringing the total investment in the company to $261.2 million. With the new funding, the startup has confirmed a valuation of around $1.6 billion, according to Forbes – making oHouse the latest South Korean company to achieve unicorn status after RIDI, a webcomic platform, completed a $99.4 million funding round in March.
Investors in oHouse’s latest round include Korea Development Bank, Mirae Asset Capital of billionaire Park Hyeon-joo, SoftBank Ventures Asia, the joint venture arm of Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group, and Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings ‘Vertex Growth.
“OHouse is not only transforming the home interior design industry, but also reshaping the e-commerce customer experience,” said JP Lee, CEO of SoftBank Ventures Asia.
Through the app, oHouse users browse other users’ design photos for inspiration and purchase items similar to those in the photos. According to the startup, a piece of furniture is purchased on average every 7 seconds through the platform. Total cargo volume will hit a record $1.7 billion in 2021.
In South Korea, with half of the population living in the capital, Seoul, interior design requires creativity for small and often expensive apartments. In Seoul, studio apartments are typically less than 215 square feet (20 square meters), according to a local media report from 2021.
Besides, due to the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic, the epidemic prevention measures and policies are said to be among the strictest in the world, causing many Korean employees to work from home. This leads to an increasing trend of redesigning living spaces.
Young Jee, oHouse’s chief financial officer, said: “We believe some habits stem from the Covid 19 pandemic, like spending more time indoors, working from home and making space for space. more personally comfortable”…. Jee holds an MBA from Wharton and is a former manager at South Korean billionaire Bom Kim’s e-commerce giant Coupang.
Since customers may not always want to renovate interiors, oHouse emphasizes “content-based communities” of design ideas, along with a lifestyle segment that includes the sale of smaller items, from curtains to light bulbs. The platform also offers services such as home renovation, relocation, installation and repair. oHouse says it will improve its logistics infrastructure for delivery services.
“If we want to expand into a whole new area, like food, that we’re testing… we’re not just showing you bread, we’re showing you a table,” Jee said. “We’re not going to expand into different categories and services based solely on how big that market is, but on user demand.”
“Lifestyle Supermarket” – in the self-description of oHouse, aiming to expand globally, starting in Southeast Asia, the US and Western Europe. According to information from the company’s website, oHouse is planning to launch in the US this summer. Last November, oHouse acquired Singapore’s online furniture platform Hipvan, marking the Korean company’s first foray into Southeast Asia.
Besides growing into new markets, oHouse plans to incorporate machine learning and augmented reality (AR) functionality into its platform, which will allow users to “imagine” furniture in What their apartment looked like before buying new items. The ever-evolving AR technology has “seen” the birth of new applications in furniture retail and interior design, as well as real estate. InSpace, an AR company run by Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree Justin Liang, has developed a platform for real estate professionals to store 3D digital copies of buildings online. their houses.
No matter how big oHouse becomes, with moving companies and even food delivery services, Lee believes the platform has kept its core values intact since the “day” destiny”.
“Why we do this is always the same… to make people’s lives better,” Lee said.
(According to Forbes, Techcrunch)
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