Users of ‘Instant Home Service’ apps have crossed 1 crore in India. Platforms like Urban Company, Pronto and Snabit are offering instant services like home cleaning and cooking, due to which their popularity is increasing rapidly.
The number of people now dependent on mobile apps for small household tasks is increasing rapidly in the country. The number of people using ‘Instant Home Service’ apps, which claim to provide help in just 10 minutes, crossed 1 crore in March this year. This information has come out in the latest report of Morgan Stanley.
According to the report, there are a total of 1.04 crore active users on these three big platforms, Urban Company, Pronto and Snabit. People are using these apps extensively for tasks like cleaning the house, washing utensils, washing clothes and cooking food.
big players in the market
At present, Urban Company is at the forefront in this market, but new players are also rapidly making their place. The figures are like this:
- Urban Company: 65 lakh users
- Pronto: 27 lakh users
- Snabit: 12 lakh users
If we talk about new downloads, Pronto (43%) is at the forefront. After this comes Urban Company (31%) and Snabit (26%).
Tremendous surge in bookings
There has also been a huge increase in the number of people booking work through these apps.
- More than 10 lakh bookings are being made every month through the ‘InstaHelp’ feature of Urban Company.
- Pronto is handling an average of 18,000 bookings daily.
- Snabit is also getting closer to the target of 10 lakh bookings every month.
Overall, these three companies together are completing more than 20 lakh jobs every month.
money being invested in companies
Seeing this opportunity in the market, big investors are also investing money in these companies. Pronto is in talks to raise around Rs 125-165 crore, which will take the company’s value to more than Rs 1,600 crore. At the same time, Snabit is preparing to get an investment of Rs 500-580 crore, due to which its value can reach Rs 3,300 crore.
But the challenges are no less
Even though the number of users is increasing, there is still a question mark over how profitable this business will be. This is a service sector, which is completely different from quick commerce (like Blinkit, Zepto) that delivers goods. The biggest challenge before these companies is to provide well-trained staff at the right time. Companies are currently spending a lot of money on finding staff and giving them incentives. The difficulty in getting domestic help in many cities and getting service at a fixed rate is the main reason for the increasing popularity of these apps.