Hyundai Livart signs equity investment deal with Korean startup Spacewavy

[Courtesy of Hyundai Livart]

Hyundai Livart Corp., a furniture manufacturer of South Korea’s Hyundai Department Store Group, said Thursday that it signed a 1 billion won ($758,265) equity investment deal with Spacewavy, a local modular home building startup.

Spacewavy is an architect startup that builds houses using its modular construction system. Modular construction is an off-site construction method using 70-80 percent of prefabricated walls and building materials from the factory for assembly in the construction site. It reduces construction time, labor and even construction waste.

“It is an effort to expand our business model to make better use of our strengths in furniture manufacturing and interior design,” said an unnamed official from Hyundai Livart. “Korea’s modular construction market is estimated at 2.4 trillion won.”

Hyundai Livart plans to develop kitchen furniture, windows and wallpapers that are optimized for modular houses using its remodeling brand “Living Interior Design.” The company will also transfer its automated production know-how to Spacewavy to enhance the quality of modular houses and support the establishment of a standardized production system. It will also conduct joint research and development (R&D) with Spacewavy.