Handy (company)
| Private | |
| Industry | Cleaning services |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, USA |
Key people |
Oisin Hanrahan (Co-founder & CEO) Umang Dua (Co-founder & COO) Ignacio Leonhardt (Co-founder) Weina Scott (Co-founder) |
| Services | House cleaning |
Number of employees | 200+ |
| Website |
www |
Handy is an online two-sided market place for residential cleanings and other home services. Founded in 2012, it operates in United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
History
Handy was founded in June 2012 as Handybook by Oisin Hanrahan, Umang Dua, Weina Scott (computer science grad from Harvard in 2011), and Ignacio Leonhardt (graduate of Duke and the London School of Economics) following a novel approach that has been compared to Uber.[1][2] Hanrahan and Dua were roommates studying at Harvard Business School at the time. Handybook name was chosen as it was a place to book handyman and cleaning services.[3]
In October 2012 Handybook raised 2 million dollars in seed financing from General Catalyst and Highland Capital.[1]
The following year in October 2013, Handybook raised further 10 million dollars from existing investors and David Tisch.[4] The same month Handybook acquired Exec to help build its West Coast presence.[5]
Handybook raised 30 million dollars in a B round in June 2014.[6]
In September 2014, Handybook changed its name to Handy.[7] A week after the rebrand, Handy acquired a London incumbent Mopp at an undisclosed valuation.[8]
In November 2014, Handy was sued over a number of alleged labor violations, including that the company was deliberately misclassifying its employees as independent contractors.[9]
In March 2015, Handy announced another B round raising 15 million dollars.[10]
It was reported in May 2015 that Handy was in talks to acquire its rival Homejoy.[11] Homejoy shutdown in July 2015 without being acquired amid worker classification suits.[12]
In June 2015 Handy announced completing its 1 millionth booking on the platform.[13]
Operations
Handy operates in 28 cities across United States, Canada, and United Kingdom.[7] It employs a full-time staff of more than 160 across all these cities, and has enlisted about 10,000 cleaners to work on its platform.[14] About 80% of its bookings come from repeat customers.[13]
References
- 1 2 "Handybook raises 2m to expand". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ Steven Bertoni (Mar 26, 2014). "Handybook Wants To Be The Uber For Your Household Chores". Forbes. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
- ↑ "Startups fight over names". Wallstreet Journal. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ "Handybook a housecleaning startup raises 10 million". New York Times. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ "Handybook sweeps up Exec for under 10m t expand west coast footprint". Techcrunch. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ "Harvard Business School dropouts startup Handybook raises 30m in series B". Streetwise. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- 1 2 "Handybook Rebrands As Handy In An Effort To Become Amazon For Home Services". Techcrunch. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ "Handy Acquires London-Based Home Services Startup Mopp To Quickly Grow Its UK Business". Techcrunch. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ "Two Workers Are Suing A Cleaning Startup Called Handy Over Alleged Labor Violations". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
- ↑ "Handy sweeps up $15M to grow its home maintenance platform, hires Tumblr VP as new CTO". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ "Handy In Talks To Acquire Homejoy As Home Service Startups Consolidate". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ "Homejoy Shuts Down After Battling Worker Classification Lawsuits". ReCode. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- 1 2 "Cleaning and Home Services Startup Handy Hits One Million Bookings". ReCode. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ↑ Griswold, Alison (2015-07-24). "Dirty Work". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2016-01-14.