Hyperlocal home services startup IndiKrew to raise up to $2 million

Funds will be used to augment technology platforms, geographical spread and expansion of service offerings, says CEO

IndiKrew, a hyperlocal home services platform run by Hyderabad-based technology firm Aizant Online, is looking at raising up to $2 million (about Rs 13 crore) in its first round of external funding by March 2016, according to its founder Bhaskar Sayyaparaju.

IndiKrew, which has been running on a bootstrap mode since its inception a year ago, has commenced commercial operations in July 2015 with the launch of its online portal and mobile applications based on the Android and iOS operating systems.

Sayyaparaju, who had earlier served as the chief technology officer of Sify and director of information systems at Nvidia Corporation in the US, has so far invested Rs 2 crore in IndiKrew.

“We intend to deploy the proceeds from the proposed fund-raising to augment our technology platforms, geographical spread and expand our service offerings,” Sayyaparaju told Business Standard.

IndiKrew currently offers home care, personal care, errands and auto care services in Hyderabad through over 300 own and temporary staff. Sayyaparaju said the company was planning to spread its horizons to four more major cities in India by mid-2016, and address 20 Tier-II cities in the following year, besides expanding its services portfolio to include event management and business services.

At present, IndiKrew has in excess of 2,500 users in Hyderabad. After the expansion, it expects the user base to swell to 5,000 by mid-2016 and reach half-a-million households in four years from then, he adds.