MUMBAI: Home services provider OK Sir is in talks with institutional investors to raise series A funding of about $20 million or Rs 134 crore, said two persons familiar with the development.
The funds will be utilised for the daily needs and emergency services-based application’s expansion plan, said Arun Kapur, founder and chief executive of OK Sir, without sharing details of the fundraising. After its launch earlier this year, the app is now live in three cities including Mumbai, Delhi and Pune, with a total user base of about one lakh people.
OK Sir, developed by the team behind the country’s first online tech mall, gadgetsguru. com, has tied up with over 30,000 skilled workers so far to provide the services to its app users. The app provides its users over 150 services across categories including daily errands, housekeeping, finance and legal services, healthcare and even an emergency helicopter pickup.
“Given the response in these three markets, we are now looking to expand OK Sir’s presence in 13 more cities across the country. To begin with, OK Sir will start its operations in Hyderabad and Bengaluru in January,” Kapur told ET. “Apart from this, the company is planning to launch the application in 11 additional tier I and II cities including Chennai, Kolkata, Goa, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Indore,” he said.
Kapur has so far invested about $2 million (Rs 13.4 crore) into this venture, with the money raised mostly from family and friends.
OK Sir E-commerce Pvt Ltd, the owner of OK Sir app, plans to utilise the funds for expanding into new cities and registration of additional vendors.
It will also use a portion of the funds for background check, verification and training of new vendors. The fundraising comes at a time when investors are showing greater interest in online home services.
Earlier this week, a consortium of investors led by Amazon India invested about Rs 150 crore in home services provider Housejoy, while UrbanClap, another startup, raised an undisclosed amount from Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata.
View Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/50261097.cms?intenttarget=no
