Initially, Urban Company was known as UrbanClap which is among the leading startups in India that have noticed a rapid growth in their customer base. The company has made it simple to benefit customer with services such as massage as well as salon without stepping out of the house. Urban Company is the largest online service provider that has a very simple background. In other words, it can be said as a all-in-one platform that helps users to avail services of professionals such as beauticians, masseurs, sofa cleaners, carpenters, and technicians at just one touch.
ALL ABOUT URBAN COMPANY-
Urban Company is one of the leading home service platform all over Asia. The platform guides and helps customers book professional home services such as beauty services and massage therapy for both women and men, cleaning, painting, plumbing, carpentry, appliance repair, and many more. This Indian based home service company is present in Singapore, the UAE, and Australia as well. It is also present across 30 cities in India — Agra, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Delhi NCR, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Lucknow, Vadodara, and many more and even in 4 International markets — Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sydney, and Singapore.
The company was established in November 2014 by Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Raghav Chandra, and Varun Khaitan with the aim of empowering millions of professional aal over the world delivering services at home like never experienced before. Since its inception, grown and developed immensely and recently it provides under two sectors- Beauty and Wellness, and Home Repair and Management. Total service professionals in the company are 40,000, among which 35,000 are from India.
HOW DID IT ALL START-
People experienced issues in finding services they are looking for. Thus, thus trio realized the gap in how people find home services they need and in the manner in which they connect with the service providers. So, after researching and understanding the issues, the concept of all-in-one home service platform came in the minds of the trio.
Initially, the startup was started as a stage that was lead-generation model, but over time Urban Company adopted a full-stack model that on boards gig workers providing them with financial assistance, skills training, access to branded tools and products, and a ready-to-serve market. The full-stack model helped and supported the company in maintaining quality standards regardless of the partner delivering the service, thereby building consumer love and loyalty.
Abhiraj said in a statement, “From the neighborhoods of Darling Harbour in Sydney to the condominiums of Gurgaon, Urban Company is a simple name with universal appeal. What remains unchanged is our commitment to offering reliable and affordable services at home. This is enabled by working closely with our service partners, helping them with up-skilling, financing, insurance, product procurement, etc., transforming them into micro-service entrepreneurs.”
The founders realized that it is important to have a globally acceptable brand so, Urban Clap transformed its name to Urban Company in January 2020. The main objective of rebranding is to enhance the sub-brands under the same umbrella and the trio even intended to spread their services in other parts of India.
The co-founder Varun Khaitan shared, “During the lockdown, we focused on re-imagining delivering safer and more hygienic services (amid the COVID-19 pandemic) and have made significant investments in technology, PPE (personal protective equipment), and safety training. Since June, the business has been on a very positive trajectory, and customers have trusted Urban Company to enter their homes for both their beauty and home service needs.”
URBAN COMPANY’S BUSINESS MODEL-
The whole home service business model is transformed to a full-stack, fulfilment model. Following the full-stack approach signifies extensive investment in Urban Company’s partners in the context of training, micro-financing, approaching branded products and tools and more. This model facilitates the customers to receive congenial services anytime and improves their experience and upgrade retention rates.
In order to pivot full- stack, the Urban Company team had well-designed the partner app as well as making out several capabilities for Urban Company partners such as a financial product, a partner supply chain for consumable, training centres on the basis of apps and video conferencing capabilities, SOP flows and many more.
URBAN COMPANY FUNDING AND INVESTORS-
Urban Company witnessed a total amount of $190.9 million funding in over 19 funding rounds. The company raised funds from 12 investors including Vy Capital, Tiger Global Management being the most recent names on the list.
By Gitika Mandhana