Mobile-only local services marketplace TaskBob raises $1.2M from Orios and Mayfield

Mumbai-based startup Crenovative Ideas Pvt. Ltd, which runs a mobile-only home services marketplace under TaskBob, has secured $1.2 million (Rs 7.5 crore) in seed funding led by Orios Venture Partners with participation of Mayfield India, it said on Thursday.

The company currently serves in Powai area of Mumbai and is expanding operations to other parts of the city.

Founded by IIT Bombay grads Aseem Khare (CEO) and Abhiroop Medhekar in November 2014, TaskBob connects users to pre-screened professional serviceman to fix household appliances such as AC, washing machine, computer and refrigerator.

Khare, who is also a CFA, started his career with Lehman Brothers and after its bankruptcy spent five years with Nomura. In 2013 he quit to launch his first venture Shaukk, a mobile-only social network connecting users of similar interests.

Medhekar did his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad after his computer engineering from IIT Bombay and spent five years with McKinsey before joining Khare in TaskBob.

Gopal Modi, vice president of Orios Venture Partners, said TaskBob addresses a core pain point of the Indian household: “We see this as a very large addressable market of over 100 million households using TaskBob services at least 3 to 4 times a month.”

Nikhil Khattau, managing director, Mayfield India, said: “The use of mobile first technology to deliver on-demand, hyper local services bring massive efficiency to the disorganised home services value chain.”

Local services marketplace has become a hot vertical with a bunch of startups getting funding in quick succession. Another venture in the same space is UrbanClap which has also just raised $1.6 million from SAIF, Accel and others.

Early this week, LocalOye raised $5 million from Tiger Global and Lightspeed. Previously, Qyk and FindYahan had raised angel funding while Near.in received seed funding.

Till now the fragmented and unorganised local services market was being served through local business listing such as Just Dial. In that model, users received phone numbers and also got direct calls from professionals after they posted their requirements.