Urban Company raises $255 million in Series F funding

Urban Company has raised Series F funding of $255 million that will be utilised for innovation, training, product development, enhanced quality control and safety measures for both partners and consumers.

In a statement on Wednesday, tech-enabled home services marketplace said it aims to increase its geographic footprint by entering the top 100 cities in India and further expanding into international markets.

Urban Company chief executive and co-founder Abhiraj Singh Bhal said the company strives to provide comfort and convenience at the doorstep of its consumers. Therefore, it has become the preferred option for all home services’ needs.

"It is the trust our consumers and 35,000 service partners have in us that makes Urban Company Asia’s largest home services market-place. With this funding, we plan to rapidly scale our business while continuing to invest further in the safety of our consumers and service partners, training of partners and product development,” he said.

The Series F round was led by Prosus Ventures, Drag-oneer and Wellington Management, with participation from Vy Capital, Tiger Global and Steadview. With this latest investment, Urban Company is now valued at $2.1 billion.

The latest round includes a primary capital infusion of $188 million and a secondary sale of approximately $67 million by select angels and early investors.

“Urban Company is disrupting a large, fragmented industry that has seen low digital adoption until now. Through their technology-enabled platform and keen focus on providing high-quality, trained service partners, Urban Company has been able to achieve the very difficult task of productizing services,” said Ashutosh Sharma, head of Investment for India, Prosus Ventures.

“In addition, the initial traction with international expansion in geographies we know well is encouraging and presents an opportunity for significant growth into the future,” he said.

Eric Jones, partner at Dragoneer Investment Group, said" “We have been extremely impressed by Urban Company’s success in digitally unifying the fragmented residential services market, both in India and abroad. Their extensive network of highly-skilled home service professionals, along with a vertical-tailored technology platform, has driven customer satisfaction and advocacy that is unparalleled in this sector. No company is better positioned to capture the growing global demand for convenient digital access to help with everyday home tasks.”

Urban Company has more than 35,000 service partners across 35 cities in India, the UAE, Singapore, Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The marketplace offers a variety of home services to consumers, including beauty treatments, haircuts, deep cleaning, plumbing, carpentry and appliance repairs. The company will continue to penetrate into existing markets while ven-turing into new overseas geographies this year.

Urban Company focuses on upskilling and training its service partners to ensure consumers get delightful services everytime. Additionally, the company empowers its partner network via financing and insurance, product procurement, training and certification along with tech-led standardisation of services. Safety and skilling of service partners will continue being a key focus for Urban Company.

— muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com