Mom-and-pop repair shops ripping you off? This startup bags $500K to provide authorized service

India’s HandyHome, an on-demand electrical appliances repair service provider, today announced that it has raised US$500,000 from early stage funds Bessemer Venture Partners and Kae Capital.

The Uber-like app HandyHome connects users with brands’ authorized service centers. In India, local repairmen often aren’t trained to keep up with the growing complexities and sophistication of electronic appliances, so having an authorized technician work on your appliances can save you money, time, and headaches.

HandyHome has onboarded 12 brands. The tie up with brands is at a central level, and the HandyHome app can cater to requests from anywhere in India.

“Communication is a major pain point for brands mainly because they have franchised the after sales service. HandyHome gives them direct access to customers’ grievances and equips them to handle disputes in an organized fashion,” Navin Honagudi, investment director at Kae Capital, tells Tech in Asia.

HandyHome has also partnered with retailers to get user adoption. The retailers use the service to book complaints on behalf of their clients who send repair requests mainly for appliances under warranty.

Rapid growth

The six-month-old startup claims to be processing 150 repair requests every day in Mumbai and aims to take this to 800 with fresh funding. It also plans to set up teams in ten cities including Kolkata, Pune, Chennai, and Bangalore for deeper engagement with retailers to increase users.

HandyHome has a team of 35 members and will increase the headcount to 100. Most of these hires are likely to be for tech team, which will launch features like request tracking and escalation.

Right now, the app only allows booking complaints by selecting the appliance, brand, and sub-category (for example, single/double door) from a drop down menu and filling in personal details. The app also stores the receipts for purchased electronic appliances.

The startup, which is at a pre-revenue stage, is founded by half a dozen 23-year-old graduates from Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai: Harmin, Kartikeya, Bonish, Manthan, Akash, and Aditya.

The emergence of service ecommerce

HandyHome competes with heavily funded services marketplaces like UrbanClap which recently bagged US$10 million from SAIF and Accel Partners. Another rival LocalOye raised US$5 million in series A funding from Tiger Global Management and Lightspeed Venture Partners, while Taskbob received US$1.2 million from Orios Venture Partners and Mayfield.

Another strong and relatively old player in the space is Jeeves, a franchise holder for electrical appliance brands in 225 cities in India. The eight-year-old company provides maintenance and repair service to consumers directly, and claims to have served over a million homes.