Hyperlocal services marketplace UrbanClap has expanded operations to Abu Dhabi in the UAE after launching in Dubai in April last year. The Middle East expansion take UrbanClap’s presence 12 cities including 10 in India.
UrbanClap’s international expansion comes around eight months following its $50 million funding raised from Steadview Capital and others. Abu Dhabi is among the prime cultural and commercial centres in the Middle East with over 200 nationalities residing that makes for a considerable population of expatriates even as the market has great infrastructure capabilities and regulations, the company said in a statement.
Bhal had told Financial Express Online last month that it would be launching Abu Dhabi along with one more international market this year.
Hence, UrbanClap “plans to initiate operations in Abu Dhabi with over 20 service partners,” it said. The company would begin operations in the city with five services including AC repair and service, handymen, maid, pest control and deep cleaning. It would soon offer services in home painting and packers & movers.
The move seems logical for UrbanClap as Abu Dhabi is a consumer heavy market and people are willing to get home services. Also, it has “a large pool of service professionals available who are not yet online,” said its co-founder Abhiraj Bhal.
UrbanClap claimed to have grown it’s UAE business 2x month-on-month empowering more than 100 businesses. The company has ‘strategic plans’ to foray into other GCC countries in the coming months.
The startup had announced a 150 per cent increase in its operating revenues for FY19 to Rs 116 crore from Rs 46 crore in FY18 while its operating losses marginally grew to Rs 72 crore in FY19 from Rs 57 crore in FY18.
UrbanClap has around 20,000 service professionals across various categories and is looking to increase the number to more than 1 million in the next five years, said Bhal. Its total order count grew from around 3.5 lakh in FY17 followed by 11 lakh in FY18 to 33 lakh (3.3 million) in FY19. “So the growth in the number of service orders is the core of our business that is growing 3X year-over-year,” Bhal had told Financial Express Online.