Urban Company eyes Rs 2,500 crore QIP amid cash-intensive househelp battle

The board of home services platform Urban Company will meet on October 16 to consider a fresh fundraise, according to an exchange filing. According to sources, it is planning to raise Rs 2,000-2,500 crore via a qualified institutional placement (QIP).

The Gurugram-based company, which went public in September 2025, is locked in a battle with Lightspeed-backed Snabbit and General Catalyst-backed Pronto in the high-cash-burn instant househelp segment.

Snabbit has raised a total of $112 million, including a $56-million round in April 2026. Pronto, meanwhile, has raised more than $50 million. The companies are competing in India’s home services market, which was valued at $60 billion in 2024-25 and is expected to grow to $100 billion by 2029-30, according to brokerage firm Jefferies.


Urban Company raised Rs 472 crore through its initial public offering (IPO) last year. As of June 30, the company had Rs 2,019 crore in cash on its books, even as its InstaHelp business continued to weigh on its bottomline.

“About 40% of the fresh funds is expected to be allocated towards building a warchest for the InstaHelp business, while remaining is likely to be deployed towards inorganic expansion and other businesses such as India core home services, international and Native (its line of home devices),” one of the sources cited above said.

Urban Company did not respond to ET’s queries.

Urban Company entered the 10-minute househelp segment in early 2025, just months before its IPO, as Snabbit and Pronto were raising venture capital to compete in the space. While Urban Company initially established a lead in monthly order volumes, Bengaluru-based Snabbit caught up with its rival, while Pronto remained in third place.

During the April-June quarter, Urban Company’s InstaHelp business generated Rs 11 crore in revenues and reported adjusted operating losses of Rs 132 crore. The company said at the time that losses in the segment were expected to remain high.

“Adjusted Ebitda loss per order improved from Rs 447 to Rs 346 during the quarter. Average order value declined from Rs 150 to Rs 138, reflecting continued customer acquisition through lower introductory prices as well as ongoing competitive intensity. Adjusted Ebitda loss for the quarter was Rs 132 crore. We expect losses to remain elevated as we invest to cement our leadership position. In this phase of category development, we are prioritising market leadership over everything else,” the company had said in its quarterly letter to shareholders.

On a net basis, the company reported Rs 3 crore in cash burn for the April-June quarter, against Rs 75 crore in the January-March period of 2026.

Urban Company, which won won the Startup of the Year award at The ET Startup Awards 2025, currently has a market capitalisation of more than Rs 25,000 crore. It had launched its IPO at a valuation of Rs 15,000 crore.

As competition in the instant househelp segment plays out, Urban Company’s core business remains profitable. The segment reported a 31% year-on-year increase in revenue to Rs 356 crore in the June quarter, while generating Rs 73 crore in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda).