Former Flipkart CPO Mekin Maheshwari backs UrbanClap

Home service marketplace UrbanClap has got another backing from an individual investor. Initially funded by Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, the Gurugram-based firm was recently backed by another HNI - Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who contributed a small amount in his personal capacity.

A new investor has joined the crew - Mekin Maheshwari, who has put in around Rs 0.5 crore in the company. According to RoC filing with MCA, UrbanClap has issued 218 equity shares costing Rs 68,737 per share to Maheshwari along with SAB Holding which has also invested Rs 0.99 crore in this very tranche.

Maheshwari was former Chief People Officer of Flipkart and currently leading an NGO called Udhyam Learning Foundation. Besides, Maheshwari has been an active angel investor for the past three years. Some of his notable portfolio of startups are Xamcheck, HashLearn, Hansel.io, BetaOut, HaloDoc, iService.

The development comes at a time when the Abhiraj Bhal-led firm is entering the Middle East market by starting operations in Abu Dhabi. Further, it is also targeting to launch in South East Asian market with operations in Singapore.

Backed by the likes of Steadview, Vy Capital, SAIF Partners, and Bessemer Ventures, UrbanClap currently has more than 20,000 individual service professionals (ISPs) on its platform across categories such as beauty, spa, cleaning, plumbing, carpentry, appliance servicing & repair, and painting.

Last, UrbanClap had scooped up $50 million Series D round in which three founders of the company had also promised to put in $15 million to increase their stakes.

Besides, the firm is facilitating a secondary sale of ESOPs and stocks worth approximately $4 million for its employees and early angels.

In FY19, UrbanClap had recorded a 3x year-on-year growth to execute 3.25 million orders worth Rs 400 crore in GTV. The company's revenue grew from Rs 53 crore to Rs 116 crore while the losses increased from Rs 57 crore to Rs 72 crore.