There are not a lot of easy-to-use online options when it comes to finding domestic help — conventionally, people ask around to hire one. While this system works, it’s cumbersome if you have to hire help for select days or are simply unable to find someone meeting expectations.
Mumbai-based MeeHelp is making efforts to fix this problem for urban families by providing an Uber-like service for domestic help. Founded in 2020 by Anu Meelu, Shiv Goyal, and Shitij Sethi, MeeHelp helps you hire domestic help such as cooks, maids, cleaners, baby care, elderly care, patient care and more.
One of its solutions is ‘on-the-go’ wherein customers can hire help on an immediate-need and shorter term basis. Customers can use the platform to hire help for a longer term too. The company founder Meelu disclosed that the service is currently operational in five areas of Mumbai, and plans to increase it to seven cities soon.
“Every urban household in India has a house help. This [domestic help] is completely an offline market… Hiring via agency means paying brokerage which typically is a 3 or 4 digit number. This is time consuming, costly and often comes with poor service,” Meelu said.
MeeHelp’s revenue model includes revenue streams from on-the-go services, assisted hiring, and annual subscription fees for the on-the-go services. The company hasn’t raised funds yet, but Meelu said that it might happen in another month or so. He did not divulge further details about the possible fundraise.
With rapid urbanization in India, the need for easy access to domestic help has become increasingly important for families and individuals. According to a survey by home service provider Housejoy, nearly 89% of Indian households need domestic assistance, but a lot of them struggle to get trustworthy ones. Platforms like The Urban Company have helped disrupt the related space. For domestic help in particular, there are websites like Broomes, bookmybai, and so on. MeeHelp, if it succeeds in delivering quality and trustworthy service along with ease of an Uber-like app, stands a chance to mark its place. Though, it’s still early days for the Mumbai-based startup.
