Pronto Raises $20M Series B, Doubles Valuation to $200M

Anjali Sardana, Pronto Founder & CEO

Pronto has raised $20 million (Rs 189 crore) from US-based technology investor Lachy Groom, known for his bets in crypto and software firms, doubling the instant house help startup’s valuation to $200 million from March, founder Anjali Sardana told ET.

In April, Pronto’s monthly orders surged 40% sequentially, with average order value between Rs 130-140 range due to lesser discounting amid a supply-demand constraint, she said.

The latest fundraise is an extension of Pronto’s $25 million funding round at a $100 million valuation from Epiq Capital, General Catalyst, and Bain Capital Ventures.

“With this, we have closed this round at $45 million,” said Sardana. “We will deploy the capital largely for scaling supply. Ensuring steady supply will be a key priority,” she said, adding that the company will invest in referral programmes to onboard more professionals. 

ET reported on Groom’s investment on April 24. This comes a few weeks after rival Snabbit raised $56 million funding from Susquehanna Venture Capital, Unicorn Growth Fund, and Bertelsmann India Investments, valuing the startup at $350 million.

The instant house help sector is seeing rising competitive intensity, fuelled by growing demand thanks to aggressive venture capital-backed micro-market expansion of these platforms.

“There's much more irrationality on the supply side than demand side,” said Sardana. “The entire industry was very supply constrained last month. So, right now, there's a lot of money obviously going towards supply scaling.”

Source: India Times