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Leading home services platform UrbanClap has rebranded itself as Urban Company, which will serve as the umbrella brand while it focusses on developing key sub-brands in the beauty and home services space.
The company aims to offer its services in the top 50 cities and onboard nearly 10 lakh service professionals in the next five years, while strengthening its presence in its existing international markets.
Universal appeal
Abhiraj Bhal, co-founder, Urban Company, said: “One of the key reasons we undertook this re-branding exercise is because we felt there was need to have a brand name that has universal appeal and was acceptable globally. We wanted to adopt a strategy where a global mother brand acts as an umbrella brand and overtime we develop sub-brands, which will have their own identities and may have their own apps or microsites in the future.”
The company believes the re-branding will help grow awareness about its various services among its users, while boosting repeat purchases across categories.
Eye on tier-2 cities
Besides India, the horizontal gig marketplace currently operates international markets including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sydney and Singapore. “In India, in the last few months, we have added nearly 7-8 new cities. So far we have largely been a tier-1 player. But there is a whole gamut of tier-2 cities, which we are now aspiring to be part of. I think the top 50 cities are ready for us. Over the next five years, we will be present in all these cities,” said Bhal.
Asked about international expansion, he said that for the next 18-24 months the focus will be on strengthening the company’s presence in the existing international markets and the company may look at future international expansion only in 2021.
About 25,000 service professionals are currently associated with Urban Company and it helps them with training, financing, insurance, technology and product procurement. “We intend to increase this to about 10 lakh service professionals by 2025,” Bhal added.
The gig marketplace was launched in 2014, with a wide variety of services but it has now sharpened its focus on beauty and home services as a strategy. It added new services such as male grooming services, professional painting services and Salon express in the past few months.
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