Local service marketplace UrbanPro raises $2M from Nirvana Ventures

UrbanPro.com, an online marketplace for local services has raised $2 million(Rs 12 crore)from Nirvana Ventures.
The funding will aid in significantly improving the product and aggressively expanding the service to additional verticals and cities. UrbanPro, previously known as ThinkVidya, had earlier raised an undisclosed sum of funding in January 2014 from Raman Sud, a US based serial entrepreneur.

UrbanPro already has a presence in top cities in India including Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Puneand Chennai in the education vertical. UrbanPro recently announced that they will also be entering new verticals such as Event planning, Health & Fitness and Photography. The expansion plan also includes greater focus on mobile product and hiring manpower across product, technology, sales, marketing and operations to significantly scale the offering.

With more than 3 lakh professionals, 5 lakh consumers and over 1 million visits a month, UrbanPro aims at connecting consumers with professionals across a variety of verticals. Consumers can post their requirements on UrbanPro in less than a minute and connect with professionals across categories to meet their specific requirements, whereas professionals can showcase their skills by creating their profile and get hired.

“UrbanPro’s mission is to help people hire smartly. We believe that our service is going to become integral part of life, and we are all working very hard to make that a seamless and rewarding experience.  This funding is a great vote of confidence to our vision and stands as testimony on how the hyperlocal category is poised for a very dynamic period in India.” said, Rakesh Kalra, Founder and CEO, UrbanPro.com.

“UrbanPro’s depth in the Education vertical, a highly experienced team and the ability of the product and monetization model to scale across verticals & cities is what got us excited. With nearly half of the traffic on mobile, the company has a huge potential to ride the mobile internet wave in India,” said, RajanMehra, MD, Nirvana Venture Advisors.

“Rakesh’s ability to get a strong team together, and drive the company to fulfill its mission are the key reasons of my association with UrbanPro.com. I am very excited to have witnessed UrbanPro’s rapid growth and equally excited about getting Nirvana Ventures on board,” said Raman Sud, existing investor in UrbanPro.