Tech-enabled home services marketplace Urban Company joins the ‘Unicorn Club’ with a $225 million Series F funding round. The company has been one of the handfuls of companies that has remained a hot proposition for top-tier investors since its inception in 2014.
The Series F round was led by Prosus Ventures, Dragoneer, and Wellington Management, with participation from Vy Capital, Tiger Global, and Steadview. The company has just raised close to $190 million in a new round led by Prosus (previously Naspers). With this latest investment, Urban Company is now valued at $2.1 billion.
Urban Company has become the twelfth Indian startup to turn into a unicorn in 2021 and the seventh in April 2021. So far, Chargebee, Gupshup, ShareChat, Groww, PharmEasy, CRED, and Meesho have entered the unicorn club this month.
Company to increase presence in more cities
The latest round of investment includes a primary capital infusion of $188 million and a secondary sale infusion of nearly $67 million by select angels and early investors. Urban Company will utilize the new investment for innovation, training, product development, enhanced quality control and better safety measures for both partners and consumers. The company also aims to expand by entering the top 100 cities in India and further into international markets.
“Urban 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 marketplace. 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,” said Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Urban Company CEO and Co-Founder.
Urban Company currently has more than 35,000 service partners across 35 cities in India, the UAE, Singapore, Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Following the funding, Urban Company’s co-founders, Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra have had their stake diluted to a collective share of 24.66%. Elevation Capital is now the largest stakeholder in the company with 14.56% followed by Accel and Vy Capital with 14.40% and 12.66% share respectively.
Urban Company had doubled its revenue to Rs 263 crore in 2020 from Rs 132.04 crore in 2019. Its losses stood at Rs 155 crore during the year ending March 2020. Despite the pandemic, the company is likely to have closed 2021 with over Rs 400 crore in revenue in the last fiscal (FY21).
