Online services marketplace Near.in raises under $300K seed funding

Gurgaon-based Thumbspot Inc., the firm behind the online services marketplace Near.in, has received Rs 1.8 crore (under $300,000) in seed funding, co-led by Anupam Mittal, CEO of People Group, and Manish Vij of Smile Vun Group. Other investors who participated in the round include Prashant Tandon and Gaurav Agarwal (both part of Healthkart.com), Akash Agarwal of SAP Labs, Himanshu Aggarwal of education firm Aspiring Minds, besides Kevin Parikh of consulting firm Avasant.

The capital raised will be used for product enhancement and geographical expansion. "We plan to introduce more merchant engagement features on our site," Sunil Goyal, co-founder and CTO of Near.in told VCCircle. "We are also expanding to more cities including Delhi."

The startup was founded by the trio of Goyal, Lomesh Dutta and Akshay Khanna. While Goyal is an IIT Delhi alumnus, Dutta and Khanna are graduates of Delhi College of Engineering.

Near.in, which went live last month, offers services across 70 different categories such as home services, health professionals, repair, fitness, beauty, events, photographers and kids' party. According to Goyal, Near.in has a curated model unlike its competitors, and it hand-picks the service providers before listing them on the platform. Going forward, Near.in will list only recommended players of their respective sectors.

Near.in is mainly competing with Just Dial and Ask Me, among others.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)