GIC, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, and Norwest Venture Partners, a global investment firm, have invested $28 million in Sulekha.com, India’s leading digital platform for local services. Sulekha will use the capital to further expand its platform that connects one of the largest bases of users and local service providers, and invest in technology and branding.
“Sulekha was founded in Austin as a tiny website serving Indians in the U.S., and this investment by GIC and Norwest is a powerful endorsement of the vast potential of the local services opportunity and Sulekha’s ability to prosecute it y both within and outside of India,” Satya Prabhakar, founder and CEO of Sulekha.com, said in a press release. The company has built a sophisticated platform in more than 800 local service categories including home/office services, coaching/training, health/lifestyle and property/rentals, he said. “Sulekha’s large base of user and businesses, unique IP, vast operational footprint, as well as rapid migration to mobile, are transforming the local services market,” he added.
According to Param Parameswaran, chairman of Sulekha.com, the company has architected a remarkably lucrative business model because of the immediacy, specificity and location-oriented nature of the user local service needs. “The company has been enjoying significant organic growth while being quite capital efficient, making it one of only a few digital companies in India that have been profitable,” he said.
Local businesses spend an estimated $2.5 billion in advertising across various media to capture $200 billion worth of local services bought in diverse categories such as computer training, serviced apartments, party catering, babysitting, elder care, yoga lessons, kitchen renovation, and wedding photography. Sulekha sends over 16 million user needs a year to over more than two million active businesses on its platform.
“Sulekha’s innovative digital platform allows users to fulfil their needs while providing a highly targeted and affordable avenue for small businesses to secure customers,” Promod Haque, senior managing partner of Norwest Venture Partners, said.
Mistui & Co. (Tokyo), a Global Fortune 200 company, and Indigo Monsoon Group are also investors in Sulekha.
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