Urban Company, an Indian tech platform that offers services ranging from haircuts to appliance maintenance and pest control, says seeing rapid growth by using a business model that ensures its partners can achieve middle-class living standards by using it alone.
Urban Company, started in 2014, is one of seven "Unicorns" that Prosus has a stake in India - or companies that have a value of above $1 billion (about R19 billion). It is looking to list publicly in coming years, having established a footprint in Singapore, the Middle East, as well as the world's most populous nation.
The group says it now as 50 000 "partners" on its platform, and takes 2 million orders per month, but while it accounts for 86% of the online services market in India, this is still only about 2% of total demand.