Urban Company, Bootstrapping, Pocket Aces ...,

#133: Can Urban Company Makeover India's Gig Economy?

Dear AJVC Reader,

Lottery - nay.
CoWIN - yay!

The new frenzy - booking a slot to get jabbed. The serpentine queue outside vaccination centres may soon be over, with the hope of a Billion doses on their way.

While you're waiting for that elusive OTP, feel free to fill-up the form to add your record to our database. As the AJVC community continues to grow, we would like to facilitate further engagement by allowing our community members to meet with each other.

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Speaking about pitching in, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has done so with a $1.1Bn worth of crypto-currency donation to the India Covid-Crypto Relief Fund. But all is not rosy in the world of cryptos.

Tesla's ban on Bitcoin as a mode of payment has sent the currency on a free fall. After taking Doge to the moon, you must be wondering why this sudden unceremonious dumping of Bitcoin? We're, too.

Back home, Zomato's IPO filing is finally going to herald a new dawn of India's startup ecosystem. While you're wondering about "Mughlai Sundays", we thought about the other startups making urban life more comfortable.

Urban Company stood out.

The Story

Can Urban Company Makeover India's Gig Economy?

Varun and Abhiraj were batchmates at IIT Kanpur.

While working at a leading management consulting firm, they got curious about the nascent Indian startup ecosystem and decided to jump in.

Their first venture failed - the market wasn't big enough. But their dreams did not fail.

Joined by Raghav, they identified that the Indian home-services industry was a mammoth $100Bn+ fragmented industry. The Nation was waking up to Jiofication, and the power of the gig economy was waiting to be unleashed.

Urban Company V1.0 was born as UrbanClap - to bring home services to you in a clap.

It was no secret that the market was ripe for disruption. In 2014 alone, almost 60 companies sprang up in this space. Profitability was far down a winding road and survival was key. They needed a PMF, and they needed it fast.

By 2015, UC was servicing 7500 orders/month by offering 50+ services and had raised their Series A. It had caught the investor interest. More importantly, it survived.

Soon, they launched internationally. Sales sky-rocketed and they had built a full-stack model with early signs of profitability.

UC's journey since then has been far from easy. Will it be able to makeover India's gig economy and build a giant in the process?

Find out in our deep dive here.

This Fortnight from AJVC

Startup Concepts → Bootstrapping vs. Raising Funds

Podcast → Storytelling for Millennials ft. Pocket Aces

Community → Swastik Nigam from Winvesta

Essays → Empathy

SEA → Can Grab’s Listing Pave Success for SEA?

Case Studies → Can Pinduoduo like group buying model work in India?

News → Will BharatPe Become Bharat’s Lending Tap?

I started this newsletter to bridge the whitespace on conversations in the Indian startup ecosystem. The newsletter is part of a collective effort for A Junior VC platform and is curated by a lovely team.

I'm just worried about the incessant phone calls from insurance guys.

Get vaccinated and stay safe,
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