Urban Company, previously known as Urban Clap, has become the country’s leading home service provider in less than a decade of its inception in 2014. But the story of the company and the genesis of its idea goes way back. It actually starts from the college days of two of its founders, CEO Abhiraj Bhal and COO Varun Khaita. 

Both Varun and Abhiraj came in contact while pursuing engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. The two IIT friends kept in touch as they moved further in their careers. While Varun joined semiconductor giant Qualcomm, Abhiraj opted to earn an MBA degree from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad. He then landed at the Boston Consulting Group which his IIT friend Varun also joined a few months later.

Both had one thing in common which was passion for entrepreneurship. In fact, before finding success with their current venture, Varun and Abhiraj had founded on-the-go streaming service Cinemabox. However, their first venture lasted just six months.

However, both refused to give up and kept mulling the idea for another try. They met their third founder Raghav Chandra, who also had a failed venture to his name. The three discovered a vacuum in the home services sector during a round of “intense” talks, according to a YourStory report.

They founded Urban Clap in November 2014. The three founders struck jackpot as their company grew from strength to strength, attracting investors including the likes of legendary industrialist Ratan Tata. The unicorn reached a valuation of $2.1 billion in June 2021 and a funding of $2.8 billion (over Rs 23,000 crore) in December 2021 with its fourth ESOP sale. The Urban Company has over 50 lakh customers and a 30,000-strong service professional network.