Housejoy
File:Housejoy logo (1).png | |
Type of site | Private |
---|---|
Founded | 2015 |
Headquarters | Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
Area served | India |
Founder(s) | Arjun Kumar, Sunil Goel |
Industry | Internet |
Services | Online Home Services |
URL | housejoy.in |
Housejoy is a website and app that people can use to find service providers for work in their homes, ranging from repair and cleaning to personal services like laundry and beautician services.[1] The company offering it was founded in January 2015 in Bangalore by Sunil Goel and Arjun Kumar.[1]
The company received a $4 million Series A funding from Matrix Partners in June 2015.[2] It then received another $23 million in a Series B funding from Amazon, Matrix Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, ruNet, among other participants.[3] Around the time of the last investment round, the company hired Saran Chatterjee, former vice president of Flipkart, as CEO.[4]
In 2015, an article in Tech in Asia said that although the company had been growing at a fast pace, it had difficulty in ensuring quality of services because of the highly unorganised services sector, wherein training of personnel had not been standardised. The company also faced some problems in its onboarding process, not vetting people it was sending to people's houses.[5]
In early 2016, Housejoy was in competition with UrbanClap and QuikrServices for customers; these companies all made money by collecting a percentage of the money paid to the service providers.[6] Housejoy pursued a strategy of rapid growth through acquisitions of companies that focused on segments within its market, and by expanding to additional cities.[7] By 2017 it had expanded to twelve cities.[4]
In May 2017, Homejoy's board of directors halted the growth, pushing out the founders Kumar and Goel, cutting staff, reducing the number of cities served to five, and emphasizing home beauty services, which it said was its most profitable segment.[4]
References
- ^ a b Kanth, Rajni (25 January 2016). "The joy of providing home services". Business Standard.
- ^ Fok, Evelyn (19 June 2015). "Home services firm Housejoy raises $4 million from Matrix Partners for expansion". The Economic Times.
- ^ Rao, Leena (15 December 2015). "Amazon Just Invested In The Indian Version Of Homejoy". Fortune.
- ^ a b c Gosh, Dhurba (19 May 2017). "A joyless house? Housejoy co-founders exit own startup post board decision". Moneycontrol.com.
- ^ Velayanikal, Malavika (15 December 2015). "Will $23m in funding help Housejoy resolve its home services mess?". Tech in Asia.
- ^ Poovanna, Sharan (14 January 2016). "UrbanClap, Housejoy, QuikrServices prepare for battle over dominance". Live Mint.
- ^ Chanchani, Madhav (2 February 2016). "Home services startup Housejoy acquires My-Wash". Economic Times.
Further reading
- Thomas, Anu (21 March 2016). "Interview with Saran Chatterjee: Housejoy to dominate beauty, laundry categories under home services in India". The Economic Times.
- Singh, Rustam (26 May 2016). "Interview with Arjun Kumar: "I Wasn't That Good at People Management"". Entrepreneur.