Dharana Capital acquires $50M stake in Urban Company

Dharana Capital, a Bengaluru-based investment firm, has acquired over Rs 400 crore ($50 million) in Urban Company through a significant secondary transaction.

This is Urban Company's largest ESOP liquidity transaction, with shares acquired from employees and other shareholders.

Vamsi Duvvuri, Founder and Managing Partner of Dharana Capital, praised Urban Company's full-stack approach and partner enablement for its strong, capital-efficient, and durable business in a challenging local services market.

"We remain deeply impressed with the focus and execution of the UC founders and team. We look forward to continuing to support them in their endeavour to build a long-lasting institution,” he added.

In May, Urban Company announced its fifth ESOP sale programme involving a secondary transaction of around Rs 203 crore. This allowed current and former employees to liquidate their vested stocks, with Dharana Capital, Vy Capital, and Prosus purchasing these shares.

Duvvuri will serve as a non-executive director on the board of Urban Company.

Founded in 2014 by Abhiraj Bhal, Raghav Chandra, and Varun Khaitan, Urban Company is a marketplace for home services, operating in 62 cities across India, the UAE, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia.

Also Read

Seeds Fincap raised $8.5M in Series A led by Lok Capital, Z47

The company has a partner network of over 55,000 trained service professionals.

“We are very excited to partner with Dharana Capital and have Vamsi Duvvuri join our board of directors. Vamsi has been a strong partner to Urban Company for a long time, and we look forward to working with him even more closely in the future,” Abhiraj Singh Bhal, CEO and Co-Founder, Urban Company, said.

Dharana Capital, an India-focused technology and consumer investment firm, has invested in Urban Company, Zopper, Lentra, NoBroker, and Itilite, supported by US University endowments and non-profit institutions.