Urban Company Sets Up Covid Relief Fund In Memory Of Departed Employee

Indian gig services marketplace Urban Company, on Friday, announced that it had set up the Mohit Agrawal Covid Relief Fund in memory of Agrawal, who was the company’s director of engineering before he succumbed to Covid-19. The news of the launch of the fund was shared on Twitter by Abhiraj Singh Bhal, a cofounder at Urban Company. 

The company has partnered with Srinidhi Foundation to set up the relief fund that will provide medical assistance and bereavement support to Urban Company’s gig workforce and their families. Urban Company’s founders and employees will jointly contribute INR 1 Cr to the relief fund. The company has further announced that it will match all contributions made to the fund to double the amount raised for Covid relief efforts. 

Urban Company, which provides home services such as house painting, hair salon, massage, plumbing and AC repair and service, among others, employs 40,000 gig workers on its platform, of which 35,000 are in India. This year, the company plans to onboard another 20,000 service professionals on its platform. 

The company was in the news earlier this month for becoming the latest unicorn in India. The company raised $188 Mn in a Series F round at a valuation of $2 Bn.

Besides Urban Company, several other Indian startups are pooling funds to contribute towards Covid relief efforts. Food delivery giant Zomato also runs a not-for-profit organisation named Feeding India, which is currently accepting donations for its ‘India Needs Oxygen’ campaign, whereby, the pooled funds will be used to provide hospitals with oxygen and related supplies needed to treat critical Covid patients. 

Indian edtech startup Unacademy has donated INR 7 Cr to Zomato’s Feeding India initiative, while gaming startup Dream11 has donated INR 15 Cr to GiveIndia and ACT Grants. Fintech giant Paytm is also airlifting 21,000 Oxygen Concentrators (OCs) from other countries. These OCs are expected to reach India by the first week of May. These devices would be immediately sent to government hospitals, Covid care facilities, private hospitals, nursing homes as well as Resident Welfare Associations. The company has already raised INR 5 Cr from citizens for the initiative and has matched rupee for rupee making it INR 10 Cr. Encouraged by the overwhelming support and contribution from people across the country, Paytm is now aiming to raise over INR 14 Cr to source over 3,000 OCs over the next few days.