Marketplace for local services UrbanPro secures $2 M funding from Nirvana Ventures
Online marketplace for local services UrbanPro has raised $2 million from Nirvana Ventures. The funding will be used in improving the product and aggressively expanding the service to additional verticals and cities. UrbanPro, previously known as ThinkVidya, had earlier raised an undisclosed sum of funding in January 2014 from US-based serial entrepreneur Raman Sud.
The company has a presence in top cities in India including Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi (NCR), Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai in the education vertical. UrbanPro recently announced that they will also be entering new verticals such as event planning, health & fitness and photography.
The expansion plan also includes greater focus on mobile product and hiring manpower across product, technology, sales, marketing and operations to significantly scale the offering.
“UrbanPro’s mission is to help people hire smartly. We believe that our service is going to become integral part of life, and we are all working very hard to make that a seamless and rewarding experience. This funding is a great vote of confidence to our vision and stands as testimony on how the hyperlocal category is poised for a very dynamic period in India.“ says Rakesh Kalra, Founder and CEO of UrbanPro.
With over three lakh professionals, five lakh consumers and over a million visits a month, UrbanPro aims at connecting consumers with professionals across a variety of verticals. Consumers can post their requirements on UrbanPro in less than a minute and connect with professionals across categories to meet their specific requirements, whereas professionals can showcase their skills by creating their profile and get hired.
“Rakesh’s ability to get a strong team together, and drive the company to fulfill its mission are the key reasons of my association with UrbanPro.com. I am very excited to have witnessed UrbanPro’s rapid growth and equally excited about getting Nirvana Ventures on board.” says Mr. Raman Sud, existing investor in UrbanPro.
Over the past one year we have seen several startups entering local service market. SellYourtime, FindYahan and Near.in have been trying to organize this space with marketplace model. According to an industry estimate, the market for local services in India is highly disorganised and currently estimated to be worth INR 9 billion.
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