iService raises Rs 3 crore in seed funding

BENGALURU: Electronic gadget repair service startup iService has raised Rs 3 crore in a seed funding round led by Blume Ventures along with angel investors such as Freshdesk co-founder Girish Mathrubootham, TaxiFor Sure cofounder Aprameya Radhakrishna, Tapzo CEO Ankur Singla, former Flipkart executive Mekin Maheshwari and Belong Cofounder Vijay Sharma.

iService, started by Ankit Chowdhary in 2013, has four brick-and-mortar stores in Bengaluru and Delhi and also offers on-demand services through its 35-member team. The company, which was so far bootstrapped, has serviced gadgets and phones for more than 30,000 customers.
Chowdhary said iService's rates for service repair are between what is offered at authorised repair outlets of gadget companies and at local gadget repair shops. "I started repairing phones when I was in college, when I broke my own iPhone 3G," Chowdhary said.

He said the gadget repair service industry is a $2 billion opportunity and plans to expand iService into other cities. He said he would use the funding to also enable existing service providers and bring them into a network.