UrbanClap raised $75 million in Series E
UrbanClap — India's first unicorn startup and the largest platform for home services — has raised $75 million in Series E.
The funding round was led by US-based investor Tiger Global. The round was also joined by Steadview Capital from Hong Kong, that led UrbanClap's $50 million series D, as well as returning investor Vy Capital from Dubai.
UrbanClap's series E also saw secondary share sale by some of its early investors.
The platform that has consolidated India's blue collar services and expanded to 10 cities, including Dubai in mid-2018. At the time of expansion, Raghav Chandra, one of the three co-founders, said that they will not be expanding further into the UAE. However, in June 2019 — a year after its expansion to Dubai — UrbanClap announced its expansion to Abu Dhabi.
Founded in December 2014 by Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra, the four-and-half-year-old startup has shown exponential growth within India. It is also giving strong competition to other startups in the space in the UAE.
With more than 20,000 professionals on its platform, UrbanClap has become popular with customers as well as service providers. Offering services such as cleaning, beauty and spa services at home, plumbing, appliance repair, carpentry and more, UrbanClap has become the go-to platform for services.
Moreover, it has redefined the economics of the blue collar industry. What earlier use to be an industry where actual service providers would receive only 15-20 percent cut of the amount paid by the customer for the service, they now receive 80 percent.
For the financial year ended 31 March 2019, the company's gross revenue more than doubled to ₹116 crore [$16.4 mn], from ₹46 crore [$6.5 mn] in the previous year, even as its operating loss rose 26% to ₹72 crore [$10.17 mn], compared to a year ago, Mint reported on May 16.LiveMint
UrbanClap has raised $185.9 million to date. Plans with the latest injection of $75 million have not been disclosed.
With around 450,000 transactions taking place a month, as disclosed to TechCrunch by co-founder and CEO Abhiraj Bhal, it is leading the space in the Indian and UAE market.
UrbanClap has not disclosed its plans with the recently raised funds. However, it has been bullishly growing and strengthening its position in the market.
