Pronto, an India-based 10-minute house help service, announced $2 million in funding led by Bain Capital Ventures. With this funding, Pronto will open new hubs, expanding their service area across Gurgaon.
There are tens of millions of domestic services workers in India, but a large percentage of them are informally employed. This disorganization of the labor market makes it harder for consumers to find workers. And due to the informality of the market, finding domestic help can take weeks to months.
Pronto enables users to book house help through their app with three different timing options: Instant (10 minutes), scheduled ahead or recurring. And services include cleaning, laundry and chopping vegetables. With the tap of a button, a verified and trained professional will show up in uniform at your doorstep.
Pronto’s business model transforms the gig work market, avoiding the commission-based model in order to provide income stability to its Pronto Professionals with guaranteed hours. And this also unlocks better service for customers, with retention rates higher than typical on-demand services. Pronto operates 24/7 with their 10-minute guarantee and users who opt for Pronto’s daily services can select a specific Pronto Professional to show up every day.
The company plans on opening 10 new hubs over the next 90 days. And the company recently launched their second hub in the Galleria Market area of Gurgaon. In the next three months, Pronto also plans to hire 700 Pronto Professionals and 50 corporate employees across operations and engineering.
KEY QUOTES:
“Workers and consumers are disadvantaged by disorganization in India’s domestic labor market. Workers suffer from income instability and consumers aren’t able to get the services they need. The average Pronto Professional earns 2-3x more in the first month after joining. We are building a win-win-win business.”
Anjali Sardana, founder and CEO
“Pronto is transforming one of India’s largest and most disorganized labor markets by delivering reliable, on-demand domestic services at the speed modern consumers expect — and doing it with workers in mind. We’re excited to back Anjali and the Pronto team as they rapidly build the default platform for trusted house help across India.”
Ajay Agarwal, partner at Bain Capital Ventures
