Ohouse operator Bucketplace raises 230 billion won

Bucketplace, operator of Ohouse, announced on the 9th that it had raised 230 billion won in new investment.

Korea Development Bank led the round with a 100 billion won investment. Participants included domestic investors IMM Investment, Mirae Asset Capital, KB Digital Platform Fund, and Smilegate Investment, as well as global investors SoftBank Ventures and BRV Capital Management; Vertex Growth, the venture investment arm of Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek; and Silicon Valley investment firm BOND.

According to Statistics Korea, the domestic home furnishing market—which includes sales of durable goods such as furniture, appliances, and home accessories—grew from about 73 trillion won in 2018 to about 89 trillion won in 2021. The interior remodeling market, as measured by the Korea Research Institute for Construction Industry, reached 30 trillion won in 2020. Ohouse has successfully brought the vast home furnishing and interior design market online and now holds a commanding lead in the online segment. During peak season, its monthly transaction volume is about 180 billion won, with one piece of furniture sold on the platform every seven seconds. Recently, the company has expanded into a range of home-related services, including construction, installation and repairs, and moving, to provide a one-stop solution for every aspect of the customer’s home experience. It also began expanding internationally, acquiring Singaporean online furniture platform Hipvan last year.

Ohouse has also continued to invest in technology and infrastructure. Its transition to a microservices architecture (MSA), which began last year, has enabled the company to extend major customer events to more users and run them reliably. Launched in June last year, Ohouse Delivery has also earned praise for delivering customer experiences previously considered impossible for furniture delivery, including next-day delivery, free installation, and easy returns.

With this investment, Ohouse is embarking on a full-scale push toward its vision of becoming the “No. 1 Lifestyle Tech Company.” Its development team includes talent from leading Korean and global tech companies such as Google, Amazon, Naver, Kakao, and LINE, and the company plans to significantly expand developer hiring. It is also stepping up technology innovation in areas such as adopting infrastructure to support stable scaling and enhancing services with machine learning and 3D and augmented reality (AR). The company also plans to use technology investment to transform its logistics network and increase hiring in related roles.

Lee Seung-jae, CEO of Bucketplace, said, “Ohouse will grow into a lifestyle super app that helps people with everything related to the home, beyond interior design. With this investment, we will expand Ohouse’s distinctive experience beyond Korea and into global markets.”