By redefining how services and service providers were being hired in India, UrbanClap has grown since its founding in 2014 to become India’s largest services marketplace and fastest-growing startup.
While several other platforms mainly provide a list of service providers for customers to wade through, UrbanClap uses artificial intelligence and machine learning, so customers can find the best choice in the most efficient way.
Through its platform, the UrbanClap app matches service professionals—their location, experience and other requested requirements—to customers without the need for additional human intervention. According to India’s Express Computer, this gives the customers a variety of options while ensuring that said choices match what the users need.
If customers don’t know about a professional’s specific requirements, they can book a service on the app, and the service provider will show up at the pre-appointed time.
“UrbanClap serves more than half-a-million customers monthly,” Raghav Chandra, co-founder of the startup, as reported by Express Computer. “All its customers and partners are on the UrbanClap mobile apps. That’s all they need to have. Everything else happens below the hood—right from managing the preferences of the customer, to finding the right match using data and ML/AI, to training of the professionals, to ensuring the professional shows up on time.
“Technology places a huge role in running of this ship by using data to power insights and intelligence, giving our customer and partners easy-to-see human-free portals, and by automating the processes and operations that are needed to run the company.”
Abhiraj Bhal, co-founder and CEO, explained to TechCrunch that UrbanClap helps service providers earn more in a more efficient way. Previously, most of them landed work through word-of-mouth or another middleman. The UrbanClap platform allows them to find more work, manage their hours and ultimately earn more money—an average of $17 to $22 per service, according to the company.
“The UrbanClap model really allows them to become service entrepreneurs,” Abhiraj said. “Their earnings will shoot up two or three-fold, and it isn’t uncommon to see it rise as much as 8X — it’s a life-changing experience.”
Only about 20 to 25 percent of applicants are accepted into the UrbanClap network, after a series of in-person meetings, background checks and a skills test.
Once accepted, UrbanClap offers training, credit, and basic banking services to support its workers and help them progress in their careers.
Emerging technologies and big data play an essential role in the platform, allowing the company to offer a better service to both its customers and its service professionals.
“We are able to predict days ahead on how many orders can we deliver on, and accordingly take requests,” Raghav explained. “We use a lot of data in training on the app as well. Every partner on UrbanClap is unique in his or her learning curve. We customise their training by looking at their past behaviour and reviews.
“This makes it personalised for the partner, as well as targeted for.”
The company has expanded throughout India and into the UAE. In 2018, UrbanClap had three big launches in Jaipur, Chandigarh and Dubai
In a Series E round of funding, UrbanClap raised $75 million in a round led by Tiger Global to keep expanding its operations.
