Indian cities are becoming more and more accustomed to not having to wait – at least in terms of delivering goods and services. You just have to check out the breakthrough pace of instant delivery apps like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart and continue to see adoption soaring in the country.
Pronto, such a startup that allows users to book and perform cleaning, laundry and home services in 10 minutes, takes advantage of changes in consumer behavior, and now it leads with a $2 million seed round of Bain Capital Ventures’ post-currency valuation of $12.5 million.
Given their growth potential, investors are likely to invest in such startups, but Pronto's funding is increasingly sensitive to how performance workers are treated through the platform.
Just two months ago, another venture-based home service provider, Urban Company, faced strong public opposition in launching similar services. The 15-minute home cleaning service, called Insta Maids, quickly caused a social media turmoil, mainly for the language city companies used in the promotion. The company later renamed the service to Insta Help, but many, including the show union, seemed unhappy with the rebranding.
For part of it, Pronto offers cleaning, laundry and cooking preparation services, and offers three different timing options: instant (10 minutes), reservation and recurring. Services are available 24/7, and the startup guarantees 10-minute service access in all supported areas. The company claims to have more than 1,000 customers in the North Indian city of Gurugram.
Anjali Sardana, founder and CEO of Pronto, said her company aims to address the concerns of performers in a “win, win, win business” way of all stakeholders.
“What these services lack in many of the languages around these services is that they treat workers like goods. They see it as input. It’s not how we operate,” she told TechCrunch. “We sit at the same hub where these workers come in and out every day. And, the reason is that once you start separating between yourself and the workers, you lose empathy for them.”
Government sources estimate that India has nearly 4 million domestic workers, although informal sources say that the figure is 50 million. Still, most of these workers are part of the informal labour market, which Planto sees as a key competitor.
Planto said that if their workers work for eight hours and 30 days a day, their workers could earn about Rs 22,000 (about $258) a month. It also offers performance bonuses, which can bring its total salary to Rs 25,000 (approximately US$293 to US$304) per month.
These amounts are significantly higher than those typically paid for household helpers in urban areas such as the International Federation of Family Workers (PDF), which is about Rs 9,000. Sardana said her startup also serves as an institution that helps workers help them in the face of exploitation or abuse — domestic aides have struggled in the country for decades.
Speed has become the new normal for many urban Indians, but does that mean that people don’t even want to wait an hour to clean up their homes? Sardana thinks so.
“When they need something, they need it right away,” she said. “For that customer, providing 10 minutes of service is huge because they no longer need to plan ahead.”
Pronto started driving its service on Gurugram in December, before launching its first hub in late March. So far, the company claims 70% of its customers requested their services twice within 14 days.
The startup operates two hubs in Gurugram, each serving customers within a two-mile radius. Sardana said 70 to 80% of Pronto demand comes from within 500 meters (about 2 to 3 minutes) of each hub. Workers are not required to return to the hub between jobs, although they have to start and end shifts there.
Pronto avoids the committee model adopted by most services that employ performance workers, and instead pays workers every two weeks and four hours a day. The company reserves fees for charges.
The company said it plans to start paying workers every week, and even let them choose to pay at any time during the payment cycle, which domestic workers often request in such unorganized settings.
"End of the day, we will provide workers with many 'almost skilled' products to provide the services they need, as many of these people are struggling to access these resources," Saldana said. She added that the startup also plans to launch health insurance products for its workers "soon."
Sardana said to ensure that its clients are verified and reviewed, Pronto conducted internal training, government ID and police verification, and court record inspections. It also believes that training and highly skilled services are provided to workers based on customer feedback.
The startup plans to open 10 new hubs on Gurugram over the next three months and increase its worker network to 700 and has a 50 employee base, up from the current 150 workers and 21 employees.
Ultimately, it plans to offer more services besides cleaning and laundry, but the focus is on expansion at the moment - deeper into gurugram and new markets like Mumbai and Bangalore.