Home services in India - whether it's cleaning, washing dishes or laundry - have traditionally been offline and operated informally. This often leads to delays and uncertainties among consumers, as well as workers’ salary and job insecurity. However, recently, startups have begun to see the field as a maturity of transformation, leveraging technology to bring predictability, scalability and structure to the space.
Founded last year, Snabbit is one of the early enablers in the field, enabling customers to book high-frequency home services through its app, including cleaning, dishwashing, laundry and kitchen preparation, and deliver at 10 minutes. The startup has now raised $19 million in a Series B competition led by Lightspeed, with participation from its existing investors Heivation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners and received a post-currency valuation of $80 million to expand its business.
The 15-month-old startup launched a fast service platform in Mumbai, the West Indian city of Mumbai, after founder and CEO Aayush Agarwal personally faced the challenge of finding reliable home services. At one point, Agarwal told TechCrunch that the situation became so difficult that his mother had to fly from Kolkata, an eastern Indian city, to help him find a new domestic worker.
"What I'm with is that in a convenient world, you can press a button and you get a taxi, or you get food or groceries, and you can even get someone to date, but finding a simple service at home is very difficult."
The startup conducted experiments early last year and stayed in a micro market in Mumbai for the first 12 months before expanding to seven markets in the city and one in Bangalore.
Snabbit takes a "full stack approach" for procurement, screening, training, onboarding and managing people, what startups call "experts." Once Snabbit signs them, it brings workers close to the startup’s demand center so that they can fulfill the company’s commitment to provide services within 10 minutes.
Snabbit isn't alone in this game, as the current city company (backed by legendary investors including Accel, Prosus and Tiger Global) started a similar experience on its app earlier this year. However, the company faced criticism due to the initial message it conveyed and the name of the Insta maid, which later corrected and renamed to Insta Help. However, this did not convince many people, including the performance union.
Similarly, new entrants including Broomes and Pronto have recently joined the arena. The latter even recently attracted seed funds from Bain Capital Enterprises.
“We know the market is heating up,” he said. “The category is getting exciting, new players come in and get funding. I think it’s good for us as long as we keep executing it relentlessly.”
The startup charges customers ₹169 (approximately USD 2) to Rs 499 ($6) and provides up to 240 minutes of service. The price is higher than the price helped by the city company Insta, which costs Rs 49 (50 cents). However, Agarwal said the startup is growing and expanding even after city companies entered the market.
Agarwal wants to use its internal technology stack to compete with a consistent customer experience, which includes internal CRM tools, procurement and screening pipelines, and the EKYC process to better comply with local regulations.
Snabbit currently has more than 600 workers on its platform, with the middle distance between each staff being 300 meters. It also works with mobility startup Yulu and provides electronic bikes to its female workers, covering the median distance of 800 meters between their work. Additionally, Agarwal told TechCrunch that the startup will reduce the middle distance for its workers as it expands.
The average fare on the Snabbit platform ranges from Rs 250 to Rs 270 (about US$3), while workers who complete 12-hour shifts "up" Rs 40,000 (US$470) per month. For four hours per day on the platform, workers receive Rs 10,000 (USD) per month, Agarwal said, adding that workers are also eligible for bonuses.
Agarwal believes that according to the International Federation of Domestic Workers (PDF), workers can earn more than the average household assistant in urban areas usually pays.
Snabbit also provides personal life insurance, health insurance and accident insurance for all workers and provides family insurance to those who have worked in startups for a while.
Workplace abuse is also common for domestic workers in India, as the country has a major lack of protection laws. In this case, the startup offers SOS functionality on its apps that workers can use to call on the field operations team, which is located within "five to seven minutes" to help workers on edge situations, the founders said.
Over the past four months, Agarwal said the startup has grown five times, and is currently growing about 20% per week. It plans to leverage new capital and hire more employees over the next nine months, employing nearly 100 people in its workforce, expanding to more than 200 micro-markets in India's metropolitan cities over the next nine months.
That is, some hyperlocal consumer applications have been tried and repeatedly tried. For example, after the pandemic-led lockdown easing, food exploded around the world in 2023, but over the past few months, they have begun to face challenges. Even in India, instant food delivery models introduced by fast business platforms including Zepto and Zomato are struggling. The former suspended its 10-minute cafe service due to supply restrictions, while the latter stopped its 15-minute food delivery service just four months after its launch, citing "increment of demand."
It is expensive to acquire customers and provide suppliers in their locations and is often difficult to pay over time. In the case of Snabbit, TechCrunch learned that the customer’s acquisition cost was Rs 700 ($8) while its average ticket size was about $3.
The startup has reached over 25,000 customers so far and has traded on the platform at least 3 times a month.
"Our retention rate is as good as any consumer internet company, such as Zepto or Swiggy," the executive said.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how the startup retains its customers and beats the competition over time while continuing to expand and expand the market in the Indian market.
“Snabbit is transforming family services in India by bringing speed, structure and trust to an area that operates informally until now,” said Rahul Taneja, partner at Lightspeed, in a prepared statement. “We are excited to join their journey and support their mission to turn what once considered luxury goods to be everyday necessities.”