Are you unhappy with your cleaning service? Your local handyman? Thanks to the advance of the Web and adoption of mobile services, a handful of startups have popped up to take advantage of an opening they see in the fragmented and slow-to-change home services space. As many local cleaning and repair services continue to live offline, offer atrocious websites (or none at all) and show up late, Handybook launched in June of last year to help people find better, trustworthy professionals to take care of their household needs.
After raising $2 million last year, Handybook announced today that it has received a significant, new influx of capital, led by General Catalyst Partners, Highland Capital Partners and TechStars co-founder David Tisch, among others. With this $10 million Series B raise, Handybook now has the capital it needs to expand beyond its home stomping grounds in New York City and begin operating in five new cities by the end of the month.
Along with its impending arrival in Dallas, San Diego, Houston, Atlanta and Seattle, the startup is also releasing a new version of its mobile app, which will be compatible with all iOS devices. Like its web service, the app allows users to book cleaning or repair services in three steps. Select the service that you want, confirm the time you want the cleaner or repairman to show up, and then enter your email address.
Like HomeJoy, Exec, MyClean and GetMaid, Handybook wants to take advantage of the growing demand for on-demand household services (particularly cleaning), as well as the growing number of people that are using their mobile devices to search for, book and rate these services. However, the difference between Handybook and the startups mentioned above is that Handybook also offers repair service booking.
To that point, Handybook focuses on offering on-demand booking for three types of services: “Handy person”-type jobs (assembling furniture, mounting your TV, etc.), as well as plumbing and moving. Other startups in this space have focused on cleaning, because it’s a competitive enough space in and of itself.
Investors are optimistic over Handybook’s potential nonetheless. Part of the reason for this, co-founder and CEO Oisin Hanrahan explains, is that the startup has seen its user base double month-over-month over the last four months and has been seeing fairly consistent double-digit growth in bookings this year. Handybook is now doing thousands of bookings a week, the CEO added.
The startup is also differentiating its strategy from others in this space by not hesitating to pull the trigger on expansion. Handybook already covers eight cities, and its new expansion plans will increase its coverage to 13 markets.
Plus, there’s the fact that all boats rise on a rising tide. Uber was really the first on-demand car service to achieve “crossover” success, and has brought its on-demand mobile car-booking model to dozens of cities. The so-called “Uber-For-X” model is all the rage among startups, and the on-demand luxury car service provided the inspiration for Handybook.
While both Angie’s List and YP are big names in the local repair service market, Handybook sees both companies more as partners than potential competitors. Whereas both have taken the “Yelp route,” by offering a search and reviews engine, Handybook is taking a page from Uber and working to round up the fragmented local service providers and become their booking and billing software.
There’s a lot of competition out there, but there are also a lot of dirty apartments and houses. And broken toilets for that matter.
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