Urban Company to sharpen focus on Tier II cities: CEO

Urban Company will sharpen its focus on Tier II markets in India as its foray into 40 such cities has yielded promising outcomes, and the firm is close to announcing a JV in Saudi Arabia, its CEO and co-founder Abhiraj Singh Bhal said on Wednesday.

Bhal said Urban Company, the marketplace for home services, would like to go for an IPO "at the right time", and while internal preparations have started, there are no firm timelines for hitting the public markets.

"We would definitely like to go public at the right time. Internal preparations have started, but I can't put a firm timeline...I think we are still some distance away, but we would like to be ready," Bhal said.

Bhal termed IPO as an important milestone for Urban Company.

"...We certainly want to be profitable when we go public, and it will happen at the right time," he said.

The company on Wednesday launched its range of fully 'Made in India' smart RO water purifiers - marking its foray into the branded water purifiers space.

On expansion plans, the hyperlocal services unicorn said that while it has a presence in 40 Tier II cities, by-and-large it has "been in a metro phenomenon so far".

"In India, we are just getting started...even though we have a presence in about 40 Tier-II cities, by and large, we've been a metro phenomenon so far with presence in the top 10 metros and another 40 cities...but I think we should be present in 100-200-300 cities. So, our work is cut off so far as the tier 2 cities are concerned," he said.

The 40 Tier-II cities where the company has a presence have shown "a lot of promise", he added.

"We have launched in these cities in the last couple of years, but they are already off to a great start. So, we would like to double down on Tier II cities going forward," he said.

On the international front, the UAE market is doing quite well for the company.

"On the back of the success of UAE, we are at the cusp of announcing a JV in Saudi Arabia...which should happen hopefully in the next three months...and Singapore, which is also a very important and strategic market for us...we have been there for the last three years, and that market also is doing well," he said.

Over time, the company will look at other locations, but for now, Urban company is sharply focused on India and these select markets, he added.