UrbanClap hires ex-Housing.com executive Amit Das

Delhi-based UrbanClap Technologies India Pvt Ltd, which runs a mobile-only marketplace to find local service professionals under the UrbanClap brand, has appointed former Housing.com vice president Amit Das as its vice president of design.

Das was also one of the co-founders of the e-governance startup Intelligent Interfaces launched by former Housing CEO Rahul Yadav.

In his new role, Das will be responsible for leading the product development and design function at UrbanClap, the company said in a statement.

Das had earlier worked at RazorFlow, Fab.com and FusionCharts, in addition to founding a digital branding and advertising agency named Kria Interactive.

UrbanClap, which offers services in 75 categories across Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune, had sealed a fresh round of investment from Tata Sons' chairman emeritus Ratan Tata in December 2015. Excluding Tata's investment, the company has raised almost $37 million since April last year.

Founded in October 2014 by Varun Khaitan (IIT Kanpur and BCG), Abhiraj Bhal (IIM Ahmedabad, IIT Kanpur and BCG) and Raghav Chandra (UC Berkeley and Twitter), UrbanClap connects service professionals such as plumbers, wedding photographers, yoga teachers or interior designers to consumers.

In just three or so years, some 100 home and local services firms have emerged providing a broad gamut of services, ranging from handyman's jobs to home cleaning, car washing, laundry, pest control and even hobby classes.

The sector has become a hot vertical with a bunch of startups getting funding in quick succession. At least a dozen startups have received funding in the last two years with deep-pocketed investors and entrepreneurs, such as Ratan Tata, Amazon India, SAIF Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel Partners and Matrix Partners making financial bets.

While no clear leader has yet emerged, a slew of startups, armed with investor cash, including UrbanClap, Housejoy, Helpi, LocalOye, UrbanPro and Timesaverz, are going after India's urban households.

Besides UrbanClap, players such as Housejoy, Zimmber, Timesaverz, and LocalOye have raised VC funds.

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