In a striking display of investor enthusiasm, Urban Company’s Rs1,900-crore initial public offering (IPO) was fully subscribed within two hours of opening, underscoring the growing appetite for tech-enabled consumer service platforms in India.
The subscription rush—driven largely by retail investors—marks a significant milestone for the home services startup as it transitions from a high-growth private player to a publicly traded entity. With anchor investors already committing Rs854 crore ahead of the public issue, the IPO’s swift uptake reflects both market optimism and the brand’s resonance with urban consumers.
The excitement has spilled into the grey market, where Urban Company’s shares are commanding a premium of Rs38, suggesting a listing price of around Rs141—about 36 percent above the upper IPO price of Rs103. The grey market price has nearly doubled from Rs19 in early September, reflecting heightened investor confidence and expectations of a strong debut.
Founded in 2014, Urban Company set out to fix a broken system. “We saw a large market which was still unorganised, very fragmented and broken,” Abhiraj Bhal, co-founder and CEO of Urban Company, tells Forbes India. “Consumers were not getting the experience they were ready to pay for. Service providers were not part of the formal ecosystem and relied on local operators or middlemen who controlled access and appropriated much of the margins.”
That clarity of purpose attracted early believers like Elevation Capital, which invested a total of $14.7 million in Urban Company since 2014 and held 10.84 percent equity ahead of the IPO. “Every micro market had local service providers, but reliability, quality and consistency were major issues. Urban Company’s team stood out for its ambition to solve this problem with technology,” says Mayank Arora, co-managing partner at Elevation Capital.
The company’s tech-enabled marketplace now spans 51 cities and 17 service categories, offering nearly 60 services—from beauty and massages to deep cleaning, appliance servicing, and repairs. It claims 6.8 million annual transacting users and a total net transaction value of Rs3,271 crore across India and international markets. In FY25, Urban Company recorded a 38.2 percent year-on-year revenue growth, touching Rs1,144.5 crore, with a profit after tax of Rs239.8 crore—a rare feat among Indian consumer tech startups.
Urban Company’s evolution mirrors the rise of India’s gig economy, which has grown from 8 million workers in 2020 to 12 million in 2025, with projections to double in the next five years. Many of these workers—young, digitally connected, and seeking flexible income—have found a foothold on platforms like Urban Company. The company’s monthly active service professional count jumped 45 percent between 2022 and 2024 to 46,000.
What was once a fragmented and informal sector has now transformed into a structured, fast-growing gig economy—one that’s rapidly formalising and scaling across India. The home services industry presents a massive opportunity, with a total addressable market (TAM) of $59.2 billion in CY2024, projected to grow at a CAGR of 10 to 11 percent, reaching $97.4 billion by CY29. Rising urbanisation, dual-income households and increasingly time-starved lifestyles are driving this growth.
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In the run-up to the IPO, secondary transactions worth Rs500 crore saw Elevation Capital, Prosus, SBI Mutual Fund and Permira buying shares from Tiger Global and Accel, valuing the firm at Rs15,000 crore. This valuation aligns with its expected market capitalisation post listing and reflects investor endorsement of its strategic pivots.
From InstaHelp’s viral waitlist to Revamp’s one-day home renovation service, Urban Company is now betting on speed and convenience as its next frontier. “There are some categories which just work for instant deliveries,” says co-founder and chief technology and product officer Raghav Chandra. “If your air conditioner breaks down, you want someone now—not after three days.”
Yet, despite its product forays, Bhal insists the company hasn’t pivoted. “We have always seen ourselves as a home services and solution company,” he says. The Native brand—launched in 2023 after two years of R&D—now includes smart water purifiers and locks, contributing Rs116 crore in revenue last year. “It is a product that does not require to be serviced for two years and can be controlled through smartphones—completely different from the traditional razor-and-blade model,” says Arora of Elevation Capital.
Despite the company completing close to a decade, the founders continue to think of it as a startup. Says Bhal: “We still think of ourselves as a company that has its best years ahead of itself. We think of ourselves as a company where 99 percent of the value creation will happen over the next two decades. Only 1 percent of the value creation has happened so far.”