oHouse, a South Korean home furnishing and remodeling unicorn, announced Monday that it has raised $182 million Series D funding from prominent global investors to power the global growth of its groundbreaking lifestyle platform.
The funding came from investors including SoftBank Ventures Asia, BRV Capital Management, Vertex Growth which is anchored by Temasek-backed Vertex Holdings, BOND, Korea Development Bank, IMM Investment and Mirae Asset Capital amongst others, oHouse said in a statement.
According to the statement, the next step for the firm is to venture deeper into the lifestyle segment, which will include expanding its team internationally.
The company will be building out its marketing, sales and product teams in key markets throughout the world, including appointing a head of United States expansion.
It said that efforts to grow the team will help to advance the company’s global expansion plans.
The company has recently acquired Hipvan, an online furniture platform in Singapore, which will help oHouse expand its presence throughout Southeast Asia. Other priority markets include the United States and Western Europe.
Beyond growing into new markets, oHouse plans to incorporate machine learning and augmented reality (AR) functionality into its platform, which will completely transform the way users and brands leverage the platform to create content, build community and buy and sell products and services.
The continued development of its logistics infrastructure is another key area of focus for the brand as it looks to expand into new categories within the lifestyle arena.
“Eight years ago, oHouse was simply a community of people sharing interior design content with one another. Today, we’ve grown into a global platform that brings users together to inspire one another to transform their lives. We’re creating solutions that can help our global user base with every design and style related challenge that they’re facing, whether it be remodeling a bathroom, planning a dinner party or setting-up a home theater system,” said Seungjae Lee, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of oHouse.
Developed by Bucketplace, oHouse is a lifestyle super-app that solves all problems related to the interior space by offering a myriad of services inspired by content including: an e-commerce store, home remodeling, furniture delivery, home tasks (repairing and installation) and moving services. The firm combines innovative lifestyle services with customer experience to change peoples’ lives.
By redefining how people decorate their homes, oHouse is powering innovation in the global interior design market. The company combines community-driven content with a seamless commerce experience, allowing customers to find inspiration for their homes, discover new products, and purchase interior décor, furniture, and appliances directly from the oHouse app.
Every seven seconds, a furniture item is purchased on the oHouse platform, helping to drive annualized gross merchandise volume to a record $1.7 billion. Having just expanded into new sub-verticals, oHouse now provides a suite of home services, including home remodeling, moving, installation and repair.
“oHouse is not only transforming the home furnishing industry but also reshaping the ecommerce customer experience. We are thrilled to partner with the company’s innovative team to help oHouse advance towards its next chapter of growth,” said JP Lee, Chief Executive Officer of SoftBank Ventures Asia.
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