Lightspeed backs Indian home services startup Snabbit as the next big consumer trend

Summary

Home services in India — whether it is cleaning, dishwashing, or laundry — have traditionally been offline and informally run. This has often resulted in delays and uncertainties for consumers, as well as inconsistent pay and job insecurity for workers. Recently, however, startups have begun viewing this area as ripe for transformation, leveraging technology to bring predictability, scalability, and structure to the space. Snabbit, founded last year, is one of the early movers in this arena, enabling customers to book high-frequency home services, including cleaning, dishwashing, laundry, and kitchen preparation, through its app, with delivery as early as 10 minutes. The startup has now raised $19 million in a Series B round led by Lightspeed, with participation from its existing investors Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, at a post-money valuation of $80 million to expand its presence. The 15-month-old startup launched its quick-service platform in the western Indian city of Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, after founder and CEO Ayush Agarwal personally experienced the challenges of finding reliable home services. At one point, Agarwal told TechCrunch the situation became so difficult that his mother had to fly in from the eastern Indian city of Kolkata to help him find a new domestic worker. “What stayed with me was that in a world of convenience where you can press a button, and you’ll get a cab, or you’ll get food or groceries, you can even get someone to go out on a date with, but finding someone for a simple service at home was excruciatingly difficult,” he said in an interview. The startup ran experiments in early last year and remained in one micro market in Mumbai for the first 12 months before expanding to seven markets in the city and one in Bengaluru. Snabbit took a “full-stack approach” to sourcing, screening, training, onboarding, and managing workers, who the startup calls “experts.” Once Snabbit signs them, it has the workers move...