Ratan Tata Falls For Services Startup, Invests In Urbanclap

Continuing his love for startups, Ratan Tata, has invested an undisclosed amount in Gurgaon-based services marketplace UrbanClap.

Founded by Varun Khaitan, Raghav Chandra and Abhiraj Bhal in October 2014, Urbanclap provides a marketplace for two simple models, standardised blue collared services like electricians or home cleaning, and white collared services like photographers, interior designers, yoga instructors etc. To use the services, customers can directly book and pay on the app itself.

“We are glad to have Mr. Ratan N Tata come onboard UrbanClap as an investor. Mr. Tata’s experience over decades, in building enterprises Indian’s trust, will be invaluable for us, as we build out a trusted services marketplace,” said Abhiraj.

Currently, Urbanclap is operational in Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Pune. The startup is targeting to extend its services in 25 other cities and 100+ categories in next one year.

Quick Facts

Serves 5000 customer requests per day currently. It plans to take this number to 100,000 customers a day.
Has 25,000+ service professionals. The company claims to be sending them business worth $200 Mn annually.
Currently has over 80+ categories, plans to take this number to 100+

This news comes in just a few weeks after UrbanClap had disclosed its $25 Mn (about INR 165 Cr.) Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners and existing investors Accel and SAIF Partners. Earlier in June , the company had raised $12 Mn across two rounds from Saif and Accel Partners.

Other players in this space include, GoodService, Housejoy, Localoye, Zimmber, Taskbob, UrbanPro, Findyahan, Qyk and Timesaverz.

A quick look into Ratan Tata’s investments