KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — It is a category of startups that began getting attention in the United States and Europe as early as 2008, with well-known outfit TaskRabbit getting the lion’s share of the spotlight.
Since then, there has been an explosion in the number of services marketplace startups, offering users everything from house cleaners and laundry services to handymen, all accessible via a few taps on a mobile application.
In a feature article for The Next Web in October 2014 exploring the growth of services startups in Europe, Ben Woods noted that “growth of services like Uber mean that people are getting increasingly used to having whatever they want, where they want, when they want.”
Within South-East Asia, it is a movement that’s been picking up of late, with such startups climbing up the ladder of consciousness since late 2014.
In Indonesia, startup Pembantu is helping a burgeoning middle class find domestic helpers for cleaning, babysitting, or as live-in nannies. The company also has regional aspirations, with plans to expand to other markets under the brand name MaidMarket once it has garnered enough traction in its home market.
But perhaps the largest indicator of any segment’s growth potential is when Germany-headquartered Rocket Internet gets into the game.
It backed Helpling, an online marketplace for hiring home cleaners, in early 2014, and since then the company has expanded its services to over 130 cities. In December 2014, it raised US$16.8 million in funding to further push its international presence.
This March, it announced that it had expanded its footprint to the Middle East and Asia, along with the acquisition of Singapore-founded rival startup Spickify for an undisclosed amount – a move the company claims will establish Helpling as the largest player for on-demand household services in the island-republic.
The Spickify trademark will be rebranded as Helpling with immediate effect, and the company’s cofounder and chief executive officer Hoe Yeen Teck has joined Helpling as the new country manager.
Under the arrangement, the entire Spickify operations team will join Helpling Singapore.
The other three cofounders — Steven Chan, Akmal Abdul Rahman, and Soon Yin Jie — will not be joining as they handled the tech component of Spickify, and Helpling has its own global development team.
“We are thrilled to embark on this new venture with Spickify’s team. They are the local hero in kicking off the first wave of this business model and will be able to provide valuable insights in propelling service excellence, tailored to the needs of the local community,” Helpling cofounder Benedikt Franke said in a statement announcing the acquisition.
“Combining both our expertise will reinforce our position as a one-stop home-cleaning solution for all Singapore households,” he added. — DNA
This article first appeared here.
