Homejoy

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Vincent spider (talk | contribs) at 04:30, 17 May 2018. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Homejoy, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryCleaning services
Founded2010 (2010)
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
United States
Key people
Adora Cheung (Co-founder & CEO)
Aaron Cheung (Co-founder & VP of Growth)
ServicesHome services
Number of employees
100+
Websitewww.homejoy.com

Homejoy was an online platform which connected customers with home service providers, including house cleaners and handymen.[1] The company was based in San Francisco.[2][3] Homejoy served the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom[4] for a total of over 31 major cities. It charged a variable rate of $25–$35 per hour (or £13 an hour in the UK).[5]

History

Homejoy was founded in 2010 by siblings Adora and Aaron Cheung, who worked as CEO and VP of Growth, respectively.[6] Originally, the company was named Pathjoy.[7][8]

Co-founder Adora Cheung did the first few cleaning jobs herself, and until late 2013 continued to work at least one cleaning job per month.[9][10]

Homejoy received an undisclosed amount of funding from Y Combinator in March 2010, but began operations in 2012.[6] Paul Graham said Homejoy was the fastest growing Y Combinator company.[11]

The company raised another $1.7 million in seed funding in early 2013.[7] The seed investors included Andreessen Horowitz,[12] First Round Capital, Resolute.VC, and other individuals and groups.[6] Since then, there have been two other rounds of fundraising conducted by Homejoy (Series A and Series B). Series A was conducted in October 2013, and the amount invested during this round has not been publicly disclosed. After Series B, led by Google Ventures,[13] completed in early December 2013, the total raised from both rounds was around $38 million.[14][15][16]

In April 2014, Homejoy expanded into the United Kingdom, its first market outside North America.[17] It charges £13 per hour, of which cleaners earn between £7 and £9.5.[13]

On July 17, 2015, Homejoy announced that it would cease operations on July 31, 2015. [18]The company cited difficulties in maintaining profitability, as well as lawsuits over whether its workers are contractors or employees.[19] Google hired portions of the company's technical staff.[20]

Operations

Homejoy was run by a team of over 100 employees, and worked with thousands of independent professional cleaners in their cities of operation as of early 2014.[15] They charged a uniform rate of $25 an hour[21] for service. Cleanings were fully bonded, and cleaners contracting on the platform had to go through a screening process which involved third-party background checks and a certification process.[16]

Homejoy’s company culture focused on the use of technology to increase operating efficiency and offer on-demand services.[22][23][24] Investors have also credited Homejoy for creating jobs in a slow job market by connecting their service to the demand and expanding their scope beyond traditional house cleaning companies.[25][26][27]

Homejoy Foundation

In December 2013, Homejoy announced the establishment of the Homejoy Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports initiatives for veterans and their families.[28][29][30]

Controversies

A former employee claimed there were other reasons Homejoy shut down besides the worker classification lawsuits, including a costly international expansion and the leakage of its best workers to direct employment arrangements with its own (now former) clients.[31] Some questioned growth of the customers by giving a steep $19 deal for the first cleaning, where other companies charge $85.[32]

In October 2015, three months after Homejoy shut down, Aaron Cheung, the Co-Founder of Homejoy bought and used the Homejoy customer database to start a similar company, Fly Maids. Cheung admitted that he was behind the startup after a Homejoy user found his credit card and profile information on the Fly Maid site — without even signing up. Cheung decided to shut down Fly Maids after the news became public to avoid another lawsuits due to seemingly improper usage of Homejoy customer database.[33][34]

See also

References

  1. ^ Cohan, P.S. (2017). Disciplined Growth Strategies: Insights from the Growth Trajectories of Successful and Unsuccessful Companies. Apress. pp. 44–46. ISBN 978-1-4842-2448-9. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  2. ^ "Homejoy". CrunchBase. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  3. ^ Tam, Donna (4 October 2013). "Online home-cleaning service Homejoy expands rapidly, hits 31 cities". CNET. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  4. ^ Williams-Grut, Oscar (10 April 2014). "Google-backed US start-up Homejoy opens London headquarters". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  5. ^ Czikk, Joseph (20 September 2013). "Homejoy Launches in Second Canadian City After Success at Home". Betakit. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  6. ^ a b c "Homejoy". AngelList. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  7. ^ a b Ha, Anthony (5 March 2013). "Home Cleaning Service Pathjoy Becomes Homejoy, Raises $1.7M From Andreessen Horowitz And Others". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  8. ^ Carney, Michael (17 January 2013). "PathJoy brings its economical on-demand maid service to LA and Seattle". Pando Daily. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  9. ^ Naasel, Kenrya Rankin (1 April 2014). "The Homejoy Creation Story: It All Started With A Dirty Bathroom". FastCompany. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  10. ^ Truong, Alice (13 February 2014). "Homejoy, The Startup That Makes All New Hires Scrub Toilets". Fast Company. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  11. ^ Graham, Paul (January 2014). "Female Founders". Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  12. ^ Jordan, Jeff (19 December 2013). "Local Heroes: The Public Companies of Tomorrow". Andreesen Horowitz. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  13. ^ a b Robehmed, Natalie (10 April 2014). "House Cleaning Startup Homejoy Expands To London". Forbes. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  14. ^ Ha, Anthony (5 December 2013). "Homejoy Raises $38M As It Looks To Expand Beyond Home Cleaning". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  15. ^ a b Gannes, Liz (5 December 2013). "Homejoy Raises $38M to Bring $20/Hour Home Cleaning to the Masses". All Things D. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  16. ^ a b Kolodny, Lora (5 December 2013). "Homejoy Raises $38M for House Cleaning On Demand". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  17. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (9 April 2014). "Homejoy Comes To Clean Up The UK, Its First Market Outside North America, For £13/Hour". TechCrunch. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  18. ^ Huet, Ellen. "Homejoy Shuts Down, Citing Worker Misclassification Lawsuits". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
  19. ^ "Homejoy Shuts Down After Battling Worker Classification Lawsuits". Re/code. Vox Media. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  20. ^ "Google Hires Tech Team From Homejoy, Readies Leap Into Home Services Market". Re/code. Vox Media. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  21. ^ "Get Your Place Cleaned". Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  22. ^ Ha, Anthony (18 August 2013). "Behind The Scenes At Homejoy, A Cleaning Startup That Says It's Really A Tech Company". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  23. ^ Posterli, Bianca (19 March 2013). "The Uber for Apartment Cleaning". Glam. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  24. ^ Schwartz, Carly (7 May 2013). "Homejoy, Online House Cleaning Service, Aims To Be The 'Uber' Of Its Field". Huffington Post. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  25. ^ Pennington, Maura (26 September 2013). "The Upside Of A Bleak Job Market: Millennials Creating Opportunities". Forbes. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  26. ^ Wohlsen, Marcus (5 December 2013). "Google Pours Millions Into New Tech Gold Rush: Housecleaning". Wired. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  27. ^ Grant, Rebecca (5 December 2013). "Homejoy sweeps up millions of dollars to liberate you from the burden of brooms". VentureBeat. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  28. ^ Grant, Rebecca (27 November 2013). "YC startup Homejoy establishes charitable foundation to help veterans". VentureBeat. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  29. ^ "About Us". Homejoy Foundation. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  30. ^ Larson, Selena (25 January 2014). "Meet 6 Entrepreneurs Who Use Tech To Change The World". ReadWrite. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  31. ^ Farr, Christina (2015-10-26). "Why Homejoy Failed — Backchannel". Medium. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  32. ^ Huet, Ellen. "What Really Killed Homejoy? It Couldn't Hold On To Its Customers". Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  33. ^ "Customers of dead house-cleaning startup Homejoy are being funneled to a copycat site - Business Insider". 2015-10-29. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  34. ^ "Homejoy Mysteriously Relaunches As Fly Maids, Customer Confusion Ensues". 2015-10-29. Retrieved 2016-06-29.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Homejoy&oldid=841650843"