Armed with $2m promise, CallFixie wants to change service standards in India

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In the four months that the startup has been in India, it’s kept a relatively low profile. However, CallFixie is already calling the country its biggest market, ahead of Australia and Hong Kong, the two markets it launched ahead of India.

CallFixie is part of Jaarvis, the Hong Kong-based venture group that incubates handpicked startups through a Rocket Internet-like model.

The startup offers on-demand house servicing by bringing together tradesmen and end users, and charging a commission from each job done.

In four months, India is already its biggest market.

“We are already doing about US$150,000 from the NCR region, and the target is to do about US$500,000 from each market in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai,” chief executive officer Jaspal Sarai told Tech in Asia, talking about revenue generated from the country.

Hong Kong, in contrast, makes about US$90,000 a month.

The startup has also engaged Sprout Capital to raise US$2 million in a bridge round, he said, and is in advanced talks to raise US$10 million as series A soon.

Most of those funds are going to be invested in the new Indian market, as the startup fights it out with other on-demand home services apps like Housejoy, Urbanclap and Mr.Right.

CallFixie, however, claims to be buffered from competition by its business model, which allows for corporate services. Servicing offices, restaurants, and other corporations account for 70 percent of its revenues.

“That is an ongoing work, and it tends to build stickiness,” Jaspal said. “We have a 13 to 15 month horizon from now, by which we will break even,” he said.

The other plan is to build a team that gains a reputation for good service, something even established companies here struggle with.

Training in India

The Indian market is choc-a-bloc with home service startups that offer everything from laundry to carpet shampooing to pest control services, making CallFixie a late entrant in the sector.