In the modern environment of present-day city life, being able to get reliable help services at home can be a big issue. Urban Company, previously known as UrbanClap, solidified its presence among these occupations using technology and modern ways as the main tools to reassess the settings of success at home.
Source: Urban company
Urban Company: Overview
The urban company, the current name of Urban Clap, was founded by Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Raghav Chandra and Varun Khaitan in 2014. It has become the primary home service company that predominantly operates in both India and the UAE. Using mobile apps and websites, the company provides a broad range of services such as painting, plumbing, cleaning, carpentry and repairs, from ordinary household appliances to washers and dryers.
| Founded In | 2014 |
| Founders | Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Varun Khaitan, Raghav Chandra |
| Headquarters | New Delhi, India |
| Legal Name | UrbanClap Technologies Pvt Ltd |
With a workforce of over 40,000 meticulously selected service professionals, Urban Company operates across two primary verticals: they are slimming down our search to items such as compared to before, they are stringent and made us change our search to things like home repairs and beauty products to health and wellness.
This segment is made available in the 31 cities in India that consists of important metropolitan cities like Agra, Bangalore, Delhi NCR, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune. In addition, the firm increases its capabilities by providing services also in neighbouring countries. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Australia, and Singapore are among the nations in which company services are available.
Urban Company is unique amongst its competitors in many ways – offering comprehensive financial assistance, training facilities and product supply among the foremost. These collective measures build a strong foundation for sustaining authentic, pleasant, and highly rated customer services that are delivered door-to-door.
Urban Company Success: Origin
In the backdrop of 2014’s advancing global landscape, the founders of Urban Company recognized a significant challenge in the service industry: problems they encountered in navigating the provider industry which wasn’t specially tailored to their demands. After noticing that there was an undiscovered niche in the market, they decided to create a powerful platform that allows service providers and consumers to efficiently interact with each other as well.
One of the standpoints of Urban Company was the need to have such a platform and the company started the process of upgrading the existing yellow pages to a user-friendly online interface.
At startup, it met the customer demand on lead generation approach. Later, Urban Company shifted to a holistic full-cycle model. Thereby the workers found it powerful for them to use it via the financial assistance, the provision to the best instruments and products, skills upgrade, and the big number of customers. The implementation of this plan helped provide service consistency while around varying services providers what created the customers’ contentment and loyalty.
The uniqueness and appealingness of the product caused a very quick and large number of investors to be deeply interested in the business which resulted in raising a significant amount of capital over a relatively short period of time. In 2015 it had most of its fund raised from the group of 12 investors, including the reputable names for example Tiger Global Management and VY Capital which totaled $1 million.
Urban Company’s investment journey includes $190.9 million through 10 funding rounds. Its investor confidence keeps getting stronger. The latest funding amounts borrowed by the company were secondarily borrowed on August 25, 2020, standing as a testament to the growing demand for the services. Also, the Urban Company has gone for the acquisitions expansion of its portfolio by three among which Glamazon remains the latest.
Urban Company Success: key statistics
Source: Yourstory.com
As per the latest developments, Urban Company is already conducting its operations in 35 cities which are spread in India, the UAE, Singapore and Australia.
The platform aims at having the largest and the most transparent network of more than 40,000 service professionals who have undergone rigorous training to ensure quality.
As of the end of 2021, with over 5,000,000 customers served, Urban Company provides services in a wide variety of over 150 different categories ranging from beauty, wellbeing, handyman services to professionals’ services.
The option to finance includes the fact that Urban company has actually raised around $440 million truly from such business owners such as Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, and Vy Capital among others.
A big accomplishment and a significant gain in FY2021 was an astounding revenue increase, above 150%; comparing with the previous year‘s revenue.
Urban Company can be proud of its extremely solid customer satisfaction index as over 95 percent of its clients marked the services either as excellent or good.
The company’s eminence has been affirmed with notable awards such as the Economic Times’ Ingenious Budding Brand and the LinkedIn Big Timers accolades.
Urban Company Success Story: Business Model
The Urban Company website is an online marketplace that makes the function of finding qualified professionals easier and hassle-free to help the customers reduce their search time for quality service providers in categories such as beauty, wellness, and home repairs. Through a two-sided model marketplace, the company plays a pivotal role in bringing service seeker and service provider under one roof.
Service Provider Onboarding and Management:
Urban Company successively undertakes a multi-stage selection process for service providers, in order to guarantee the quality control and to keep up with the standards. Hopeful professionals in this field must undertake detailed background analysis with expertise, tests of required skills and proof of right identity and competence.
When the onboarding procedure is completed effectively, service providers can post identities on the platform, hence illustrating their domain knowledge and availability to prospective clients. By charging a commission on every transaction handled through the platform, Urban Company processes the funds.
Customer Experience:
The Urban Company clientele benefit from a plethora of applicable services from its vast network of competent transactions. Customers can effortlessly find or hunt service providers based on their location, desired service category and availability to suit their individual needs.
The website offers a booking system so users can select the dates and times that are suitable for their appointments. Also, with the system integrated into our portal, clients can pay securely through the platform. Moreover the Urban Company has a rating and review tool which allows for clients to give feedback regarding the actual process thereby creating a great chance for visibility and accountability.
Through the simple push of a button, customers can be instantly linked to the vetted craftsmen of their choice, thanks to Urban Company’s technological abilities that facilitate an ease in getting quality services in the urban areas. The company with the two-sided market model empowers both service providers and customers at the same time, and this is the factor which guarantees reasonable prices and excellent quality to customers.
Urban Company Success Story: Revenue Generation Strategy
The revenue of Urban Company is practically commission based. Service providers are required to pay a specific amount of fee to Urban Company every time the platform is used for any service. The commission rate is however subject to slight change, it must be, however, compatible with the service category and the geographical location.
The company framework comprises profit-based payments, extra services and tools as well as the network of service providers. The most common trend in the FMCG industry is adding supplements, which are charged as extra levels, advanced training, resources, and innovative solutions in the services provided to help service providers to provide improved quality in service delivery and operation.
As the key company project, Urban Company lays out the idea of launching a customer-friendly and user-friendly marketplace that links existing customers and local service providers together. The happy fate of the company will depend on its ability to build a reliable pool of specialist personnel
Through a standardised revenue model with embedded commission-based revenue model besides additional services, Urban Company places a platform for a stable and scalable form of business. This strategy not only engenders recurrent income, but it also induces service providers to cooperate with the platform hence creates a self-funding system targeted in the whole ecosystem involved.
Urban Company’s conceptual strategy revolves around the development of the best service provider network, the pursuit of customer satisfaction whereby they maximize technological heights and thus occupying a prominent position in the on-demand service industry in urban places where there is demand for convenient and reliable services which is steadily engaging more and more people.
Urban Company Success: key investors and funding rounds
The period between 2014 and the present has witnessed Urban Company securing solid contributions from prestigious funders. Below is a summary of key investors and funding rounds: Below is a summary of key investors and funding rounds:
Series A (2015): Urban Company had SAIF Partners leading the $10 million Series A round which was boosted by Accel Partners among others. Snapdeal co-founders, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, also participated in the same round.
Series B (2016): Urban company obtained the Series B financing round which was delivered by our managers Bessemer Venture Partners. They were supported by the previous financing ones furnished by SAIF Partners, Accel Partners, and Snapdeal Founders.
Series C (2017): Moreover, Urban Company effectively pushed for the $21 million Series C fundraiser that was greatly spearheaded by Vy Capital and participation from other key investors.
Series D (2018): A United States investor Steadview Capital headed the Series D funding round, of which Urban Company User- Interface obtained fifty million dollars from the existing investors.
Series E (2019): Tiger Global led the Series E stage of financing, taking $75 million, alongside the further investor participations.
Series F (2020): Urban Company successfully seized $50 million in its Series F round with Steadview Capital’s backing again along with Vy Capital, Elevation Capital, and Tiger Global.
Series G (2021): A Series G financing round was led by Prosus Ventures with another $255 million being invested, together with DFI (Denmark) Partners from Wellington and others.
Moreover, Urban Company stepped into the unicorn club too through the raising of $188 million+ as part of equity funding, thus having their total funding stand at over $436 million. Investors include Sequoia Capital, Vy Capital, and Elevation Capital. Notable ones. Such revenue streams have become a catalyst to Urban Company’s eyes to globally reach beyond borders, broadened services, and introduced technology as well as product upgrade. An Indian company, today, hold one of the leading startup positions in the nation, which speaks to its huge growth and influence on the market
Urban Company Success Story: Growth And Revenue Milestones
The Urban Company’s revenue for the FY 2016-17 stood at INR 47 crore equivalent to $6.4 million USD.
Furthermore, the company witnessed a huge leap in its revenue from (FY 2016-17) which was INR 50 crore (about $6.7 million USD) to INR 116 crore (approximately $15.7 million USD) in the year such as (FY 2017-18), translating to a year-on-year growth rate.
However, FY18-19 period has been another important milestone in the growth of the company as it attained even greater heights with its annual revenue reaching up to INR 216 crore (approx. $29.3 million USD) which is more than 85% more than last year.
FY2019-20 has brought some more speed along by showing the year on year development to be above the 74% mark. The revenue figure for this year has come in at INR 376 crore (approximately $51 million USD).
Urban Company managed to stay on the grow trajectory in spite of the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in FY 2020-21, and as a result it stopped its revenue level of INR 263 crore (it is approximately $36 million USD) which is more than 22% higher than that of last year.
The reach of these milestones highlight the robustness, adaptability and the fixed intention of the Urban Company, in the positive direction while spanning of the times, has been facing the changing situation of the market.
Urban Company Success Story: Future
The forecast for Urban Company is optimistic as it has been quite active in expanding its services and also taking on new geographic markets at the same stride.
Several factors are poised to influence the trajectory of Urban Company in the future:
Market Expansion: Having gone beyond India and established operations in the UAE, Singapore and Australia; Urban Company is now prepared to consider a bigger geography. Indeed, the firm may undertake additional growth plans to leverage the potential of a vast global demand for the indoors market.
Diversification of Offerings: Urban Company has proven their service expansion plan from providing just beauty and wellness services to now covering such home tools as appliance repair, pest control, and more.
Technological Advancements: It is valid to admit that tech has become a priority in the company in relation to user experience, which has spurred on the large investments the company has already made in this direction.
Urban Company: Top Competitors
| Top Competitors |
| Sweepsouth |
| Batmaid |
| Thumbtack |
| Housejoy |
| Zimmber |
| Timemytask |
Conclusion
In conclusion, Urban Company’s success model shows how technology can help solve real world problems in the home service industry. In 2014, this company rose out of a gap in the market where it became the first platform that was able to bring about services providers and consumers in a more efficient way. Success is due to public service offering providers through a highly-selective and demanding selection process and the insistence on customer satisfaction. With more than 40,000 certified professionals offering services in different categories, this network has become really large.
