On Wednesday, well-known home services marketplace Urban Company stated that it has elevated USD 255 million (about ₹1,857 crore) in funding led by the Prosus Ventures, Dragoneer and Wellington Management. Moreover, the series F round – which also found participation from Vy Capital, Tiger Global and Steadview – takes Urban Company’s valuation to USD 2.1 billion.
As per the latest round involves a primary capital infusion of USD 188 million and a secondary sale of approximately USD 67 million by select angels and early investors, Urban Company CEO and co-founder Abhiraj Singh Bhal mentioned.
Also, he even added that the Urban Company has raised about USD 330 million in primary capital till now. Bhal said the funds will be used towards innovation, training, product development, and improved superiority control and safety actions for partners and consumers.
The company also targets to increase its geographic footprint by entering the top 100 cities in India by 2022 and further intensifying into international markets.
Bhal said, “With this funding, we plan to rapidly scale our business while continuing to invest further in the safety of our consumers and service partners, training of partners and product development…We will continue to penetrate existing markets while venturing into new overseas geographies.”
Presently, Urban Company has over 35,000 service partners across 35 cities in India, the UAE, Singapore, Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The marketplace provides a variety of home services to consumers across categories like beauty and personal care, cleaning services, plumbing, carpentry and appliance repairs.
Bhal also said that the company has also been focused on up skilling and training its service partners. The number of partners is set to produce in line with its expansion into more cities.
Talking about the impression of pandemic on business, Bhal stated while there was significant impact initially but the situation has changed currently.
He added, “After the lockdown was lifted last year, we saw momentum returning and double to pre-COVID levels. We expect strong growth momentum to continue as more people use our services while staying safe within their homes.”
Bhal noted that the company has commenced a number of steps to safeguard the safety of its partners, involving taking care of their vaccination and providing safety gear.
He mentioned that more than 50 per cent of its partners have already been vaccinated, and by June-end, this number is assumed to go up to 75-80 per cent.
