- UrbanClap — an India-based online marketplace for local services — announced it raised $75 million in funding led by Tiger Global
UrbanClap — an online marketplace for local services like repair, event management, packing and moving, etc. founded by Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra — announced it raised $75 million. This round of funding was led by Tiger Global. And existing investors Steadview Capital and Vy Capital also joined the round.
Currently, UrbanClap is available in India and the UAE and this round of funding will be used to expand its business. Including this round, UrbanClap has raised $185 million total.
Last month, UrbanClap also revealed that it raised INR 1.5 crore (slightly more than $215,000) from former FlipKart chief people officer Mekin Maheshwari and Avaana Capital founder Anjali Bansal.
UrbanClap connects workers with customers across 10 cities in India, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. There are 20,000 micro-franchisees supported on the service and around 450,000 transactions that happen every month, according to TechCrunch. The workers who find work through UrbanClap typically had to go through a middleman like a store or word-of-mouth sources to find work. And these workers typically earn more through UrbanClap.
With UrbanClap, workers keep 80% of the cost of their jobs. So these workers can earn multiples more and manage their own hours.
“The UrbanClap model really allows them to become service entrepreneurs. Their earnings will shoot up two or three-fold, and it isn’t uncommon to see it rise as much as 8X — it’s a life-changing experience,” said Bhal via TechCrunch. And the average value of a service is between $17 to $22.
Over the last year years, UrbanClap also started offering training and banking services to offer more support to its workers. UrbanClap offers 73 services through its platform including kitchen cleaning, wedding planning, fitness training, yoga training, and hairdressing. About 3 million customers have been served so far.
Around 20% to 25% of applicants are accepted into UrbanClap and that decision is based on in-person meetings, background/criminal checks, and skill testing. The workers also wear outfits that say UrbanClap for security purposes.
