Prosus Ventures, Dragoneer and Wellington Management leads Series F Funding
Gurugram-headquartered Urban Company has raised US$255 million through Series F funding, saying it is for innovation, training, product development, enhanced quality control and safety measures for both partners and consumers.
A leading tech-enabled home services marketplace, the company also aims to increase its geographic footprint by entering the top 100 cities in India and further expanding into international markets.
The Series F round was led by Prosus Ventures, Dragoneer and Wellington Management, with participation from Vy Capital, Tiger Global and Steadview. With this latest investment, Urban Company is now valued at US$2.1 billion. The latest round includes a primary capital infusion of US$188 million and a secondary sale of approximately US$67 million by select angels and early investors.
Speaking on the development in a release on 2 June 2021, Urban Company CEO and Co-Founder Abhiraj Singh Bhal said, “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.”
“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.”
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. We look forward to supporting Urban Company’s continued momentum and innovation as they revolutionize the at[1]home, on-demand economy.”
Urban Company has more than 35,000 service partners across 35 cities in India, the UAE, Singapore, Australia and 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 venturing 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 standardization of services. Safety and skilling of service partners will continue being a key focus for Urban Company.
Founded in November 2014, Urban Company offers services such as beauty and spa at home, cleaning, plumbing, carpentry, appliance repair, painting, etc. through its mobile app and website.
Prosus is a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Operating and investing globally in markets with long-term growth potential, Prosus builds leading consumer internet companies that empower people and enrich communities. The group is focused on building meaningful businesses in the online classifieds, food delivery, payments and fintech, and education technology sectors in markets including India, Russia, and Brazil.
Through its ventures team, Prosus invests in areas including health, logistics, blockchain, and social commerce. Prosus actively seeks new opportunities to partner with exceptional entrepreneurs who are using technology to improve people’s everyday lives. Every day, millions of people use the products and services of companies that Prosus has invested in, acquired or built, including Avito, API Holdings, Brainly, BUX, BYJU’S, Bykea, Codecademy, DappRadar, DeHaat, dott, ElasticRun, eMAG, Eruditus, Honor, iFood, Klar, LazyPay, letgo, Meesho, Movile, Oda,OLX, PayU, Quick Ride, Red Dot Payment, Remitly, Republic, Shipper, SimilarWeb, Skillsoft, SoloLearn, Swiggy, Udemy and Wolt. Hundreds of millions of people have made the platforms of Prosus’s associates a part of their daily lives.
Dragoneer Investment Group is a San Francisco-based, growth-oriented investment firm with over US$17 billion in long[1]duration capital from many of the world’s leading endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices. Dragoneer has a history of partnering with management teams growing exceptional companies characterized by sustainable differentiation and superior economic models.
The firm’s track record includes public and private investments across industries and geographies, with a particular focus on technology-enabled businesses. Dragoneer has been an investor in companies such as Airbnb, AmWINS, Ant Financial, ByteDance, Datadog, DoorDash, Duck Creek, Farfetch, Livongo, Nubank, PointClickCare, ServiceNow, Slack, Snowflake, Spotify, Square, Twilio, Uber, and others.
Tracing its history to 1928, Wellington Management is one of the world’s largest independent investment management firms, serving as a trusted adviser to over 2,200 clients in more than 60 countries. The firm manages more than US$1 trillion for pensions, endowments and foundations, insurers, family offices, fund sponsors, global wealth managers, and other clients.
As a private partnership whose only business is investment management, the firm is able to align its long-term views and interests with those of its clients. The firm offers comprehensive investment management capabilities that span nearly all segments of the global capital markets, including equity, fixed income, multi-asset, and alternative strategies.
With more than 800 investment professionals located in offices around the world, Wellington pairs deep multi-disciplinary research resources with independent investment teams operating in an entrepreneurial “boutique” environment. #investment #funding #technology #digital /fiinews.com
