Urban Company

Urban Company (formerly known as Urban Clap) is an Indian gig marketplace that offers home installation, maintenance and repair services, and home beauty and wellness services.[2] In 2014, the company was founded by Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra, and was originally branded and known as UrbanClap until it expanded its service offerings in January 2020.[3][4] In May 2020, Urban Company reported an operating revenue of INR 216 crore and its valuation was at INR 918 crore; the company followed the I-GAAP accounting method.[5] In FY20, the home maintenance and repair services contributed 45% of total revenue and the beauty and wellness services contributed 55% of total revenue. In March 2020, the company was servicing 22 locations within and outside India, had a network of 25,000 professionals, and were performing 800,000 service tasks every month.[6]

Urban Company
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Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
Online marketplace
FoundedNovember 2014 (2014-11)
HeadquartersGurgaon, Haryana India
Area servedWithin India: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Surat, Vadodara and Visakhapatnam
Outside India: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sydney and Singapore
Founder(s)
  • Abhiraj Bhal
    Varun Khaitan
    Raghav Chandra
IndustryConsumer service
Revenue US$29.59 million (2020)[1]
Employees1,000 (May 2020)
URLwww.urbancompany.com

History

In 2013, Abhiraj Bhal and Varun Khaitan left their jobs at the Boston Consulting Group in the United States and returned to India to launch their own venture. Raghav Chandra, who earlier worked at Twitter, Inc., also returned back to India around the same time to pursue entrepreneurship. The three got together and invested INR 10 lakh each to launch UrbanClap, a hyperlocal home service platform.[7]

Funding

In April 2015, Urban Company secured its seed fund of US$1.6 million from SAIF Partners and Accel Partners.[8] In June 2015, Urban Company raised US$10 million in Series A funding from its existing investors, SAIF Partners and Accel Partners.[9] In November 2015, Urban Clap raised US$25 million in a Series B round of funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, SAIF Partners and Accel Partners.[10] In July 2018, Urban Company raised US$50 million in a Series C funding round led by Steadview Capital and Vy Capital.[11] In May 2019, Urban Company raised US$50 million in the Series D funding round led by Steadview Capital.[12] In August 2019, it raised US$75 million in the Series E funding round led by Tiger Global Management.[13]

In addition to institutional funding, Urban Company attracted individual investments from Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl, the founders of Snapdeal.[14] In November 2015, Ratan Tata, a former chairman of Tata Sons, invested an undisclosed amount in Urban Company and joined its board as an adviser.[15] In 2019, as a part of the Series D funding round, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, the CEO of Flipkart, invested INR 1.6 crore in the company.[16]

Acquisitions and partnership

In 2016, Urban Company acquired HandyHome, a services marketplace that facilitated online bookings of repairs and services for electronic appliances.[17] In the same year, Urban Company acquired GoodService, a hyperlocal startup offering services over a messaging platform.[18][19] In March 2020, Urban Company acquired the assets of Glamazon, an Australian on-demand beauty services provider.[20] In July 2019, Urban Company partnered with National Skill Development Corporation to train 30,000 services professional under short-term skilling and upskilling programs, and to create micro-entrepreneurship opportunities for services professional who were already certified under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana.[21] Urban Company was recognised as a key partner of the National Skill India Mission.[22][23]

References
  1. SH, Salman (October 13, 2020). "Urban Company FY20 revenue jumps 103% led by demand in beauty and wellness". The Mint. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  2. Agarwal, Nikhil (January 30, 2020). "UrbanClap renamed Urban Company as the startup expands to international markets". The Mint. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  3. Agarwal, Nikhil (January 30, 2020). "UrbanClap renamed Urban Company as the startup expands to international markets". The Mint. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  4. Singh, Manish (August 2, 2019). "UrbanClap, India's largest home services startup, raises $75M". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  5. "Urban Company's operating revenue surges 103% in FY20". The Economic Times. May 12, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  6. "Urban Company snaps up Australian on-demand beauty venture Glamazon". The Economic Times. March 16, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  7. Chopra, Arushi (March 20, 2017). "How UrbanClap grew one on-demand service at a time". The Mint. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  8. Chopra, Arushi (March 20, 2017). "How UrbanClap grew one on-demand service at a time". The Mint. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  9. Venkatesh, Shruti (June 29, 2015). "UrbanClap raises $10 million in Series A funding". Forbes. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  10. Shu, Catherine (November 19, 2015). "UrbanClap, India's Largest Services Marketplace, Fetches $25 Million Series B". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  11. Srinivasan, Supraja (December 1, 2018). "UrbanClap raises $50 million from Vy Capital, Steadview". The Economic Times. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  12. Russell, Jon (November 30, 2018). "UrbanClap raises $50 million from Vy Capital, Steadview". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  13. "Urban Company snaps up Australian on-demand beauty venture Glamazon". The Economic Times. March 16, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  14. "Snapdeal founders Rohit Bansal, Kunal Bahl invest in UrbanClap". The Financial Express. April 16, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  15. Poovanna, Sharan (December 11, 2015). "UrbanClap raises funding from Ratan Tata". The Mint. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  16. Malik, Yuvraj (April 9, 2019). "After Moglix, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy bets big on UrbanClap". Business Standard. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  17. "UrbanClap acquires HandyHome". Business Standard. October 7, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  18. "UrbanClap acquires hyperlocal app GoodService". The Business Standard. August 11, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  19. "Urban Company snaps up Australian on-demand beauty venture Glamazon". The Economic Times. March 17, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  20. "Urban Company snaps up Australian on-demand beauty venture Glamazon". The Economic Times. March 17, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  21. "UrbanClap partners with NSDC to train, certify service professionals". The Hindu Business Line. July 16, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  22. "UrbanClap partners with NSDC to train, certify service professionals". The Hindu Business Line. July 16, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  23. "UrbanClap joins Modi govt's Skill India mission, to train 30,000 new professionals". Business Today. July 15, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
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