Instant-help providers such as Snabbit, Pronto and Urban Company's InstaHelp may have to nearly double prices to achieve profitability as they expand into lower- and medium-density neighbourhoods, where thinner order volumes limit the number of jobs per professional and hurt unit economics.
High worker utilization is critical for the business model to remain sustainable because the more jobs they complete, the lower the cost of each job and the better the platform's unit economics. Currently, each worker completes 8-10 jobs over about 9.5 working hours a day, keeping the all-in servicing cost at ₹95-100 per hour, according to industry estimates—close to prevailing customer prices in many cases.
However, this efficiency is only possible in dense micro-markets where jobs are clustered within a 300-400-metre walking radius. “Anytime a professional has to go beyond 400 metres per job, the model breaks, because utilization per professional then deteriorates, and most platforms do not want their workers covering more than 400 metres on foot,” said an executive familiar with Snabbit’s operations.
Experts say the companies may eventually need to raise prices to well above ₹200 an hour to make the model profitable.
For now, they are trying to improve worker utilization by concentrating operations in high-demand neighbourhood clusters, assigning professionals multiple nearby jobs in succession, and charging higher prices during peak demand hours.
Expansion hurdle
As of now, instant-help apps serve high-density areas such as HSR Layout, Koramangala, Bellandur, and Whitefield in Bengaluru, where residential apartments and high-rise societies dominate. But expansion into lower-density, more villa-like areas such as Jayanagar, Cox Town and Kalyan Nagar has been harder.
The Snabbit executive said low-density areas can still have demand, but a worker may have to cover more than 2-3 kilometres at a time.
A spokesperson for Snabbit confirmed that the areas mentioned above in a city like Bengaluru are more “horizontally spread out”. As a result, the average travel distance between jobs can be marginally higher, which in turn may lead to slightly longer expert arrival times.
“Density is a key determinant of whether a hyperlocal market is viable…our depth-over-breadth strategy allows us to build strong neighbourhood-level networks and expand only when the catchment can support consistent fulfilment, low travel time and healthy unit economics,” the Snabbit spokesperson added.
A senior executive familiar with Pronto’s operations said the platform has tried to expand into areas within Indiranagar and HAL. "Though demand exists, the travel distances have been higher—1-3 km or more—and serving such demand at current rates of below ₹100 per job is not really making sense at our economic level.”
Urban Company’s June-quarter results offer a detailed look at InstaHelp's unit economics. It fulfilled about 3.8 million jobs in the three months ended 30 June, up from 2.6 million a quarter ago, even as average order value (AOV) fell to ₹138 from ₹150. Per-order Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) loss stood at ₹346 in the first quarter compared to ₹447 in the previous quarter. Ebitda loss was as high as ₹1,374 in the first quarter of 2025-26, when InstaHelp was launched.
Urban Company attributed the AOV decline to high competitive intensity. “In this phase of category development, we are prioritizing market leadership over everything else,” it added.
The Snabbit spokesperson said its consolidated net order value (NOV) for the house help category, after accounting for all discounts across all users, was over ₹130 in June. It expects the NOV to increase by another 15-20% over the coming months.
Pronto didn't respond to Mint's emailed queries.
But that does not mean expansion into lower-density areas or new cities is off the table. Snabbit has raised a total of $112 million across five funding rounds, with its latest Series D closing on 28 April 2026, while Pronto has raised $60 million across four rounds. Urban Company’s March-quarter results also made clear that it is “investing aggressively to cement market leadership and will continue to do so”.
Mint estimates that Snabbit handles about 1.51 million jobs monthly, InstaHelp roughly 1.27 million, and Pronto around 1.25 million. Snabbit is available in 10 cities and urban regions, mainly in metros such as Bengaluru, Mumbai and the National Capital Region. Pronto is live in 11 cities, while InstaHelp is available in five major cities.
Right unit economics
Experts said such expansion will require built-in pricing, including monthly packs, peak and surge pricing, and other charges, as well as investment in personal mobility to help professionals move faster on the ground.
“There still has to be some innovation in cutting down travel time between houses, either by investing in personal mobility or by adding pricing to cover distance costs,” the Snabbit executive said.
The Snabbit spokesperson added that the median distance travelled by its workers between two jobs is currently approximately 250 metres. “As density within a micro-market improves, this distance can reduce further, helping experts spend more time on paid work and less time travelling."
Workers earn about ₹35,000-40,000 a month while working an average of around 9.5 hours a day, including travel time, according to Mint’s estimates based on conversations with industry stakeholders.
However, Pradyumna Nag, founder of the business management consultancy Prequate Advisory, said the model will likely turn profitable only at around ₹180-200 per hour, since at ₹100 per hour, the monthly take-home comes to just ₹22,000-25,000
This is because a significant portion of customer payments goes towards platform commissions, marketing and subsidy costs, and workers' travel and other job-related expenses.
Nag also said that unit economics will work only if higher prices or additional charges are passed on to customers, through subscriptions, urgency pricing or some degree of premiumization.
“Today, platforms are committing minimum payouts to workers while utilization is only about 40% on an average, may be closer to 20% in newer cities, and 50% in the best micro-markets. As utilization rises to 75-80%, which is achievable, supply costs will be spread across more jobs, and the cost of supply can fall sharply,” said Pranay Jain, managing director, digital, technology & consumer investment banking, at Avendus Capital.
Jain also explained that current prices are also designed to induce trials and customer adoption. As utilisation improves and platforms mature, companies are likely to improve monetisation through complex services, premiumization, convenience offerings such as 10-minute fulfilment in dense micro-markets, and other pricing levers, he added.