Renowala is an online marketplace that brings together homeowners, interior designers, and other home improvement professionals

Nearly 70 startups cropped up in the on-demand home services vertical in India in 2015 when the growth of consumer internet was at its peak. Every startup in this space was betting big on rising migration of people from smaller towns to major cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi.

Investors, too, sensed massive opportunities and poured in massive dollars to the likes of UrbanClap, Zimmber, TaskBob, and Housejoy.

However, an investment slowdown that set in towards the second half of 2015 turned things around. Consumer internet began to feel the squeeze, and home services startups were among the worst hit. Unable to raise investments, a few home/local services startups shuttered, some pivoted their business model, while a few got acquired. While players like Housejoy and UrbanClap weathered the storm, startups like Doormint faced an untimely death.

While all this hullabaloo was happening in the market, a startup was slowly and cautiously making inroads into home services — a space with a lot of potential. The negative sentiment in the market did not affect the startup, Renowala, which later went on to raise two rounds of funding.

“Companies entered this segment with the hope of cashing in on the the rising migrant population to provide home services. But things did not go well for them, and when real challenges came their way, they floundered,” Joshua Kumar, Founder and CEO of on-demand Renowala told e27. “Amidst the fuss, we were quietly building our venture. We weathered the storm and managed to win a decent number of customers. We are now looking to grow fast in the coming months.”

Also Read: Indian on-demand home services startup Taskbob buys Zepper

Based out of Hyderabad, Renowala is an online marketplace that lets interior designers and home owners to come together for their home improvement and design requirements. It has over 2,000 service providers live on the platform. Currently, Renowala has operations in Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad.

The firm raised its first round of funding in November 2015, from the promoters of software technology firm Logtally. The second round came in 2016 from FMCG veteran Pradeep Dhobale.

Renowala is now on the verge of launching a mobile app, which Joshua claims will revolutionise the home improvement services space in India. “The app comes with a three simple actions for consumers — open, tap and connect. There are only four personal details required for registration. Once the required service is selected, the customer just has to wait for the service provider within a 10km radius to connect with him/her,” added Kumar, who is also CEO of AceOne Ventures (Singapore) and Vice President at Springforth Capital Advisors.

The app will be providing 20 services that have been carefully selected using data mining information on the most frequented requirements. The services offered by Renowala include interior design, electrical repair, gardening, pest control, house cleaning and plumbing, and Vastu.

Service providers within these 20 services can register as Renowala partners. They only pay 50 rupees (under US$1) for each lead they accept, which is exclusive to them only.

According to Kumar, among a host of on-demand home improvement services, UrbanClap is probably the only startup that Renowala is facing serious competition from. “UrbanClap, with a huge war-chest, is probably our only competitor. But there is still a lot of room for multiple players, as India a vast country. In fact, the existence of multiple players have made it easy for companies like us to enter the market without spending much on educating the customers and creating awareness,” he added.

Also Read: Home services in great demand in India but low frequency dogs startups

He also estimated that India will experience an 11 per cent annual growth in the home improvement sector. 

Kumar said that the company has been getting a lot of interests from the VC community. “We are keen to raise more capital to further develop our operations and at the same time we are also selective on stakeholders who can contribute strategically to other supporting roles and responsibilities within the business,” he concluded.

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Main image Credit: davidmartyn / 123RF Stock Photo

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