UrbanClap revenue grows fourfold to Rs45 crore in FY18

Bengaluru: Home services start-up UrbanClap’s operating revenue grew four times to Rs45 crore in FY 2017-18 from Rs11 crore in FY 2016-17, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

UrbanClap’s net losses reduced by 25% year-on-year to Rs50 crore in FY18, from Rs67 crore in FY17.

The start-up, founded in 2014, helps users hire professionals for home services such as beauty, house cleaning and repair, yoga and fitness, and others across eight cities. It recently expanded operations into Dubai with five services.

UrbanClap’s operating revenue consists of commissions it makes from each successful service offered. It charges a commission of around 10-20% of the transaction fee from service providers, depending on the type of service availed by the customer.

In April 2018 alone, the company’s commission revenues stood at ₹ .25 crore, while it made an additional ₹ .5 crore in revenue by selling products to service professionals on its platform. The gross value of transactions on the platform stood at ₹ 0 crore in April 2018. In the same month, UrbanClap clocked 450,000 service requests, with an average transaction value of ₹ 1,200 to 1,500 per request.

UrbanClap’s chief executive Abhiraj Bhal said the start-up aims to be a ‘services platform’ connecting offline providers with potential customers. It targets creating jobs for at least 1 million service professionals in the small and medium enterprise (SME) segment.

“We help the service professionals to become a micro-entrepreneur by standardizing their service and final rates offered. The platform also helps them (professionals) with branding, training, certification, product procurement, financing, payments and other business related support,” Bahl said in a phone interview.

UrbanClap does not own its inventory of independent professionals and service providers on its platform; it instead aggregates them and provides a standardized service to the end customer..

Currently, the biggest segment on UrbanClap is beauty services, followed by appliance repairs, and house cleaning services. Bhal said beauticians on the platform earn more than Rs1 lakh per month, while service professionals such as plumbers and other technicians earn up to Rs50,000 per month.

Bhal added that the company’s cash burn is less than Rs2 crore per month, and that it has around Rs220 crore on its balance sheet for further investment.

So far, UrbanClap has registered around 2.5 million users. Bhal refused to comment on the number of active users on its platform. However, the company claims to have a 75% repeat user base.

UrbanClap is one of the few start-ups that attracted investor attention in the hyperlocal services segment. So far, the company has raised a total of $60 million in funding from key investors such as SAIF Partners, Accel Partners, Vy Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners among others.

UrbanClap’s closest competitor HouseJoy, which is backed by Amazon, laid off more than 40 employees across several departments due to a slowdown in revenue, Economic Times reported on Tuesday.