Amazon-backed Housejoy to boost revenues through B2B channel

On-demand home services start-up Housejoy, which is backed by Amazon India, plans to soon enter into partnerships with others business in a bid to boost its revenues. The Bengaluru-based company has already tied up with Asian Paints, Hindware, 3M, Treebo and OYO Rooms as a part of its strategy to shift focus towards the B2B segment.

Saran Chatterjee, CEO, Housejoy, told BusinessLine that the company will be tying up with more companies this year, and the aim is to achieve 20 per cent of the overall sales from B2B and B2B2C partnerships.

Housejoy, an on-demand home services marketplace that allows users to find, discover and connect with local service professionals, had been focussing on end consumers. Through the business partnerships, it plans to not only indirectly expand its reach to smaller towns, but also target more customers and revenues.

While Chatterjee declined to comment on the financials of the firm, the company, founded in 2014, has an estimated revenue of $1.5 million, according to research and data analytics firm Owler.

Chatterjee took over as CEO after Amazon, along with other investors such as Vertex, Qualcomm and Matrix, pumped in about ₹150 crore in the start-up, which was founded by Arjun Kumar and Sunil Goel.

The company competes with players such as Zimmber, UrbanClap and Taskbob, which are also shifting their focus to the B2B segment with B2C remaining a big challenge in India.

According to experts, the major challenges on-demand home services companies face are with regard to availability of cheap labour and the lack of trust customers have on an unknown person in their house.

Chatterjee said the issues are being solved, and while it is definitely a big challenge, Housejoy and other start-ups are working towards bringing in rules to streamline the highly informal and unorganised blue-collar sector that includes services such as plumbing, house cleaning, laundry and beauty.

According to Chatterjee, a large part of Housejoy’s business comes from the beauty segment as women increasingly prefer to get their routine monthly beauty care at the comfort of their home. In a bid to boost the business in this segment, the company has tied up with budget hotel brand Treebo, where guests can opt for a beauty care at a cheaper price.

Talking about the firm’s plans for 2017, Chatterjee said the company wants to expand and go deeper with more services in the nine cities it operates in. “We are not looking at directly expanding into more cities with our services, but through our partnerships. For our B2C segments, we will consolidate it in the cities we are present in and focus on profitability.”

COMMENT NOW