Smriti Dixit2021 has been a year of start-ups & unicorns.
A list of Indian companies has managed to make their place in the unicorn club by touching the decided valuation criterion. The recent buzz is about one more company that is ready to enter the club which is Urban Company formerly also known as Urban Clap. The other relevant details can be looked into the article.
MORE ABOUT RAISE
The company is in talks to raise an amount from new & existing investors and that too with a premium amount of two times. If things fall in place; the company would be the next to enter the much talked about unicorn status.
In 2019; the valuation is around $ 933 million. The series E funding was close to $ 75 million which was effectively led by Tiger Global. The sources clearly explain that
“There has been a lot of interest in the company from internal investors including Tiger Global, Vy Capital and Steadview Capital. New investors such as Falcon Edge, or its related firm AWI, is also in talks to join the round that may go up to $150 million,”
This amount that is expected to generate would definitely value the company at an amount of $ 2 billion. The company is currently working at a revenue of Rs. 263 crore and will raise more than Rs. 400 crore in the year 2021. The company has effectively raised an amount of $ 180 million in five rounds from the following back up investors:
- Accel
- Ratan Tata
- Elevation Capital
- Bessemer Venture Partners
MORE ABOUT URBAN COMPANY
It is a private company that offers proper home installation, maintenance, repair services, home beauty & wellness services. It was founded in the year 2014. It was founded by Abhiraj Bhal & Varun Khaitan. The online marketplace serves 22 locations with a network of 25000 professionals that are offering 8 lakh services offering across the nation. They have an international presence across major cities like Sydney, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Riyadh. The amount of funding made since its inception is as follows:
| April 2015 | $ 1.6 million |
| June 2015 | $ 10 million |
| November 2015 | $ 25 million |
| July 2018 | $ 50 million |
| May 2019 | $ 50 million |
| August 2019 | $ 75 million |
The acquisitions and partnerships have also been quite attractive starting from the list mentioned below:
- Handy Home (online booking of repairs & services)
- Good Service (offering services for a messaging platform)
- Glamazon (on-demand beauty provider)
The fact that is noticeable is that the home services segment is taking convenience as its primary factor. They offer quality & availability at peak. The market is targeting a volume of $ 1133.4 billion by the year 2026.
Pandemic has surely given an opportunity to online marketplaces but it’s difficult as this pandemic can prove to be a threat to the home service market.