UrbanClap, which touts itself to be the largest mobile-based services marketplace in India, has raised $25 million in its latest funding round which was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation of existing investors Accel Partners and SAIF Partners.
Advertisement
With this, it has now raised nearly $37 million since April this year.
An increasing number of services startups are aggregating handymen such as electricians and plumbers as well as caterers and tutors, stitching together a highly fragmented market pegged at close to $100 billion. The company plans to extend its offering to 25 cities and more than 100 categories over the next one year.
Founded by Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra in 2014, UrbanClap is an on-demand urban lifestyle services provider which helps users hire professionals to get their everyday tasks done.
The on-demand services space has gained traction in the last one year with demand for services on the rise, attracting significant investor interest. He claimed that UrbanClap is now sending them business worth $200 annually (current run rate)-which means it is processing requests for gross transaction value worth Rs 110 crore a month-from small carpentry jobs worth Rs 200, to large interior designing assignments worth several lakhs. “This is a victor take all market and there is no place for second best”, he added.
Advertisement
We will use these funds to further strengthen our leadership position in the space and expand across all major cities in India. Now UrbanClap is serving 5,000 customer requests per day, and with an active seller base of more than 20,000 professionals. Vishal Gupta, MD of Bessemer Venture Partners said, “We are impressed with how the UrbanClap team has aggressively built this mobile marketplace in a short period of time, and a capital efficient manner to become the industry leader”. However, over the past few months with the market tightening this category has seen some players unable to shore up further capital while others lke LocalOye laid off employees to cut costs paving way for consolidation.
