In 2025, Urban Company made headline news when it won the “Startup of the Year” award at the prestigious Economic Times Startup Awards. This recognition celebrated not just the company’s rapid growth but also its transformation of the informal home services industry into a structured, technology-driven marketplace.
Urban Company’s journey is a powerful story of innovation, trust, and the power of organized entrepreneurship in improving everyday lives.
The Beginning: Solving a Real Problem
Urban Company (previously known as UrbanClap) started in 2014 with a simple goal — to help people find reliable professionals for everyday tasks. In India, finding a plumber, electrician, beautician, or cleaner was often based on word-of-mouth or local recommendations. There was no standard for pricing, quality, or trust.
The founders — Abhiraj Bhal, Raghav Chandra, and Varun Khaitan — realized this gap while living in big cities like Delhi and Bengaluru. Most consumers struggled to find skilled home service providers when they needed them, while thousands of professionals had no platform to grow their business or reach more customers.
Their vision was clear: to bring structure, trust, and convenience to the unorganized home services market using technology.
Early Growth: Building Trust and Technology
Urban Company began as a simple online platform connecting customers with local service professionals. However, building trust between both sides was not easy. Many early users were skeptical about letting strangers into their homes, and service providers feared they would not get fair pay or enough work.
To solve this, Urban Company focused on three main principles:
Verification and Training: The platform screened every service professional carefully, conducted background checks, and provided skill training before they started work.
Transparent Pricing: It listed fixed prices for services on the app so customers would know what to expect before booking.
Technology Integration: Through their mobile app, customers could choose services, set schedules, make payments, and rate experiences, all in one place.
By building this digital ecosystem, Urban Company created a sense of professionalism and security that had never existed before in informal home services.
The Name Change and Rapid Expansion
In 2020, UrbanClap rebranded to Urban Company — a shift that represented its ambition to grow beyond “on-demand” local services and become a trusted household name globally.
The new name reflected its evolution into a full ecosystem for both customers and service partners. From beauty and spa treatments at home to appliance repairs and home cleaning, the platform began offering dozens of services across India and other countries like the UAE, Singapore, and Australia.
What made Urban Company stand out was its “partner-first model” — unlike many gig-economy platforms that treated workers as mere contractors, Urban Company invested in its professionals’ growth. It provided uniforms, safety equipment, training sessions, and financial support programs, ensuring partners earned fairly while customers received world-class service.
By 2025, this model had helped over 60,000 professionals become micro-entrepreneurs under the Urban Company brand.
Business Model: Profit with Purpose
Urban Company’s success lies in the strength of its two-sided marketplace model — connecting customers who want convenience with professionals who seek opportunities.
How It Works:
Customers use the Urban Company app or website to book services such as beauty, grooming, cleaning, appliance repair, or fitness training.
Each service has a fixed, transparent price and estimated time.
Professionals receive bookings through the app, complete the work, and get paid digitally.
Urban Company takes a small commission from each completed job.
This model ensures both scalability and sustainability. The platform does not own the services — it enables them. By focusing on technology, trust, and training, Urban Company reduces manual inefficiency while maintaining high-quality service standards.
In 2025, the company announced that it had achieved profitability in key markets — an impressive feat for a startup operating in a traditionally unorganized sector.
Technology at the Core
Urban Company’s rise wouldn’t have been possible without technology. The platform uses AI-powered matching systems to connect customers with the best available professionals nearby.
It also uses data analytics to track service quality, predict customer needs, and optimize pricing strategies.
Some of its most innovative uses of technology include:
Smart Scheduling: Automatically managing time slots to reduce waiting.
Digital Payments & Ratings: Enhancing transparency and accountability.
Partner Training Modules: Using online learning platforms for continuous upskilling of service providers.
Quality Assurance Algorithms: Flagging low-rated services for review or retraining.
These tech-driven processes gave Urban Company an edge over local competitors. It became more than a service app — it became a trusted platform that users could rely on for safe and professional home experiences.
Social Impact: Empowering the Workforce
One of the key reasons behind Urban Company’s recognition at the 2025 Economic Times Startup Awards was its impact on the informal workforce.
Before platforms like Urban Company, millions of skilled workers in India lacked social security, stable income, or professional recognition. By bringing them into a structured ecosystem, Urban Company empowered them economically and socially.
Skill Development: The company partners with training organizations and government-backed programs to help professionals upgrade their skills.
Gender Inclusion: Thousands of women professionals have become financially independent through the platform, especially in beauty, wellness, and cleaning categories.
Financial Stability: With consistent bookings and earning opportunities, professionals can now plan their savings, education, and family goals.
Safety & Dignity: Safety kits, insurance coverage, and customer verification build a secure environment for both service providers and clients.
This approach turned gig work into respectable entrepreneurship and helped redefine how India views blue-collar and service workers.
Expanding Beyond India
Urban Company’s international journey began with the United Arab Emirates, where urban lifestyles are similar to Indian metros but with higher service expectations.
The company adapted quickly — investing in region-specific customer experiences, premium packaging, and luxury grooming services.
After success in the UAE, it moved into Singapore and Australia, using its strong technological base to maintain consistency. Each market brought new challenges — different cultures, labor laws, and customer demands — but the core idea remained the same: offer trustworthy, high-quality services through digital innovation.
Today, Urban Company is recognized as one of the few Indian startups that successfully scaled beyond national borders while maintaining profitability and quality control.
The 2025 Milestone: Startup of the Year
Winning the Economic Times Startup of the Year (2025) award represented a major milestone for Urban Company. The jury praised its “ability to transform a fragmented informal sector into a scalable, profitable, and internationally recognized brand.”
The award also recognized its strong business fundamentals — sustainable growth, profitability, and positive social impact.
In an era when many startups burn through cash to acquire customers, Urban Company showed that discipline, purpose, and innovation can lead to both profit and progress.
After receiving the award, CEO Abhiraj Bhal stated that Urban Company’s mission was “to make home services as accessible, reliable, and standardized as food delivery.”
This vision continues to drive the company’s roadmap for AI-based service solutions, global franchise models, and professional welfare initiatives.
Lessons from Urban Company’s Journey
Urban Company’s story offers valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs and startups:
Solve Real Problems: Success begins with identifying genuine pain points in everyday life.
Build Trust: Especially in service-based markets, reliability and customer satisfaction are more important than rapid expansion.
Empower People: By improving opportunities for workers, businesses can strengthen their entire ecosystem.
Leverage Technology Wisely: Technology should simplify human needs, not replace them.
Focus on Long-Term Value: Sustainable growth triumphs over short-lived hype.
These lessons show why Urban Company stands as a role model for startups aiming to create social and economic value simultaneously.
The Road Ahead
Even after achieving remarkable success, Urban Company continues to innovate. The company plans to enter new verticals like home renovation, elder care, and smart home assistance, supported by AI tools for quality monitoring and customer experience.
Its future strategy focuses on global expansion, sustainability, and partner welfare. The startup aims to train over 100,000 service professionals by 2027 and continue offering fair earnings with improved benefits.
With strong investor confidence, a profitable business model, and an inspiring mission, Urban Company is on track to become the world’s leading platform for trusted home services.
Conclusion
Urban Company’s journey from a small Indian startup to an award-winning global enterprise is a story of purpose-driven entrepreneurship.
By combining innovation with empathy, the founders transformed an unorganized industry into a high-trust digital marketplace that benefits both customers and workers.
The Startup of the Year 2025 award is more than just recognition — it symbolizes how Indian startups can scale profitably, impact lives positively, and go global while staying true to their roots.
Urban Company just didn’t build a business — it built a system that empowers people, simplifies lives, and redefines what modern home services can look like.