Painting the walls of your home normally means a trip to a big-box home improvement store, lugging around heavy cans of paint. Lick Home is the direct-to-consumer home décor brand that transforms how people decorate the walls of their home. Through Lick Home’s website, users can easily explore a pre-curated list of 49 paint colors and 25 wallpapers with colors and patterns that range from traditional to bright and fun. Instead of ordering a messy, expensive sample pot of paint, Lick Home’s proprietary peel-and-stick samples lets homeowners easily choose colors and see how those colors will look in their homes. Lick Home also provides professional color consultants, through video consultations, who provide expert advice on the best colors to choose for your home.
London TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Lucas London to learn more about how Lick Home is the modern paint brand that empowers homeowners throughout the decorating process, the company’s experience launching in during the pandemic, and the company’s recent funding round.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Lick Home’s raised a £3M Seed round.
The round was led by Felix Capital, a digital-lifestyle focused venture capital firm that has previously backed leading global platforms such as Farfetch, Peloton, goop, and Deliveroo.
Additional investors include Magnas Rausing (heir to Tetra Pak), Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman, Piton Capital, Talis Capital, and Samos Investments.
Tell us about the product or service Lick Home offers.
Lick Home is on a mission to stir up the dusty interiors market and replace the out-dated offline DIY store with an experience built for the modern consumer.
What inspired the start of Lick Home?
Having been the VP International at Airtasker (a trusted community marketplace for people and businesses to outsource tasks to those with the required skills) my cofounder, Sam Bradley, and I spotted an opportunity to bring a traditionally offline industry online for a younger consumer – for whom the desire for self-expression, especially in first homes, is a powerful force. In a nutshell, we spotted a way to make decorating simple.
How is Lick Home different?
Lick Home provides a fuss-free approach to decorating, with premium, eco-friendly products carefully curated by a team of interior experts. One of Lick Home’s most compelling innovations – its peel-and-stick samples which are all a true colour-match – replaces the traditional messy, expensive sample pots that ruin walls! On top of that, we believe in the value of 1-to-1 conversation and are already seeing the impact of linking our customers to expert colour consultants to help make their decisions even easier.
What market is Lick Home targeting and how big is it?
The home décor market is extremely large, yet one with historically very little online innovation. The global decorative paint and wallpaper market alone is worth $93B. The global paint market is dominated by incumbents, with the top 5 global paint brands owning 50% of market share. The UK is home to many heritage and local brands, many of which have distribution through retailers and stockists, but lack a consumer-facing buying experience and in many cases lack a thorough e-commerce experience. Despite millennials’ increasing appetite for DIY options, today 60% of the paint market is purchased and applied by professionals, who are focused not just on aesthetics and quality but also seeking an easier and enhanced customer service experience.
What’s your business model?
We generate gross margin by selling our products online via our e-commerce platform.
How has COVID-19 impacted your business?
Lick ended up launching on the very same day that the UK was put into lockdown by the government, so it’s safe to say we have been kept busy. It’s a very strange time to launch a business, but this newfound appreciation for our homes (after all, they’re wearing so many hats at the moment) means that more people than ever have been looking to inject some colour into their DIY efforts and we’re happy we can help.
I don’t think there are any companies that haven’t faced problems during this period, but the biggest challenge for us has been stock. We simply didn’t have enough product when we launched, and the market exploded on us. If I could go back in time to earlier this year, I would say one thing: get more paint!
What was the funding process like?
Given the positive traction and great feedback on the brand and products we brought forward the funding round and saw a high level of demand. COVID-19 accelerated our thesis by increasing online adoption and encouraging consumers to have a bigger focus on their home, due to remote working. This brought a lot of interest to the funding round. We also benefited from a strong cap table from our Pre-seed round at the end of last year. Felix moved quickly in their DD process and they were the right fit for us given their consumer-centric focus.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
It was important for both teams to get to know each other, which was difficult during the lockdown.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
The home decor universe is a massive lifestyle category where we have been observing significant changes in behaviours, all accelerated by the current COVID situation. Customers are putting much more attention and focus on where they live and see this process as a way to express their creativity. In addition, globally, we have all had to spend a significant amount more time working and living in our homes in 2020. As such, we are placing much higher expectations when it comes to the experience, keen to reduce all the pain points unsolved by traditional retailers. The same way we take care of our physical or mental health — making Home our happy place has now become a key wellness focus.
What drew investors to Lick Home was ultimately the unique opportunity to build an exciting brand in home decor, much more relevant to today’s consumer behaviour.
What drew investors to Lick Home was ultimately the unique opportunity to build an exciting brand in home decor, much more relevant to today’s consumer behaviour.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
The capital injection will accelerate the launch of new verticals to support our position as a design and decorating destination, scale existing marketing channels, and fuel our expansion into Europe.
What advice can you offer companies in London that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
There are some founders who have been able to move beyond the firefighting rollercoaster and use the time to focus on business areas they might not have been able to previously, such as HR or Product. These brands will take stock, put in place robust roadmaps, and ultimately come out stronger. A lot of the investment community has increased activity and given the large amount of capital raised by funds in 2019, it is a good time to approach investors if your business model can succeed in the new normal.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Lick Home will be a multi-vertical European home decor brand.
What is your favourite restaurant in London?
Mazi, a wonderful Greek restaurant in Notting Hill.
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