Online services marketplace Housejoy raises bridge funding after three-year gap

Housejoy, the online services marketplace owned by Bengaluru-based Sarvaloka Services On-Call Private Ltd, has raised Rs 22.83 crore ($3.19million approximately) in a bridge funding round led by existing investor Matrix Partners India. The latest round comes nearly three years after the company last raised capital. 

Apart from Matrix, other existing investors who participated in the round include Sama Family Trust, Vertex Ventures, Qualcomm Asia Pacific Pte Ltd and Ru-Net South Asia and Growth Story’s Ganesh Krishnan, according to filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Seattle based ecommerce giant Amazon, which invested in Housejoy in 2015 in its Series B round, did not participate in the current round.

Incubated by Bengaluru based Growth Story, Housejoy has had a troubled run lately. In May last year, the company’s founders Sunil Goel and Arjun Kumar quit suddenly following a decision by the board. In May this year, according to multiple media reports, the company downsized some of its operations and laid off at least 40 people across functions. 

Housejoy competes with Mumbai based UrbanClap which was last valued at $450 million when it raised a $50 million Series D round led by Steadview Capital in November this year. Online classifieds platform Quikr is also a competitor. 

For the financial year ended March 2018, the company reported a 30% reduction in losses from Rs 70.19 crore in FY 2016-17. The operating revenues for the year stood at Rs 34.64 crore, up from Rs 24.96 crore in the previous year. In comparison, UrbanClap reduced its losses to Rs 56.49 crore for financial year 2018, while its operating income increased to Rs 46.7 crore, up from Rs 11 crore in the previous financial year.