Urban Company Raises INR 400 Cr From Dharana Capital Via Secondary Deal

Hyperlocal services startup Urban Company has raised INR 400 Cr ($50 Mn) from Bengaluru-based VC firm Dharana Capital through a secondary share sale.

The transaction saw employees and other shareholders of Urban Company selling their shares in what was the largest ESOP liquidity programme in the startup’s history, Dharana Capital said in a statement.

As per the terms of the agreement, Urban Company’s will also onboard Vamsi Duvvuri, founder and managing partner of Dharana Capital, as a non-executive director.

“Urban Company, with its full-stack approach and focus on partner enablement, has built a strong, capital efficient and durable business in a challenging local services market. We remain deeply impressed with the focus and execution of the UC founders and team. We look forward to continuing to support them in their endeavor to build a long-lasting institution,” Duvvuri said.

Meanwhile, Abhiraj Singh Bhal, cofounder and CEO of Urban Company said, “We are very excited to partner with Dharana Capital and have Vamsi Duvvuri join our Board of Directors. Vamsi has been a strong partner to Urban Company for a long time, and we look forward to working with him even more closely in the future.”

Founded in 2014 by Bahl, Raghav Chandra, and Varun Khaitan, Urban Company offers a range of services such as home cleaning, appliance salon and massage, repair services, painting, among others.

The Delhi NCR-based startup counts Tiger Global, Prosus and Steadview Capital among its backers and has raised more than $646 Mn in funding to date, according to Inc42 data.

Earlier this year, Bahl announced in a LinkedIn post that Urban Company turned profitable before tax (PBT) in April 2024.

In September last year, Urban Company said that its India business broke even in Q1 FY24 at an “adjusted EBITDA level with negative working capital”.

Urban Company’s net loss declined more than 40% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 308 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 514 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Meanwhile, the startup’s revenue from operations jumped 45% YoY to INR 637 Cr during the year under review from INR 438 Cr in FY22.

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