A 20-minute pitch wins Indian startup Pronto backing from Lachy Groom

Lachy Groom, one among Silicon Valley’s most intently watched solo buyers, determined to again Indian startup Pronto simply 20 minutes into his first assembly with its 24-year-old founder.

The assembly, which befell in February by a mutual connection, led to Groom investing $20 million in Pronto as an extension of its Collection B spherical, valuing the startup at $200 million after the funding — double its valuation simply over two months earlier, as TechCrunch had beforehand reported. The deal got here collectively inside weeks, bringing the solo investor on board because the Bengaluru-based startup expands to fulfill rising demand for on-demand house companies in India.

Groom stated he was drawn to Pronto’s ambition to construct what he referred to as the world’s largest platform for organizing home labor, beginning with India’s huge and largely unstructured workforce. “The work beneath that’s genuinely laborious, and most makes an attempt in adjoining classes have struggled with the operational self-discipline,” he stated, including that Pronto founder Anjali Sardana (pictured above) and her crew had been working “at a degree I haven’t seen elsewhere on this area.”

Earlier than founding Pronto in 2025, Sardana labored at Bain Capital and enterprise agency 8VC, the place she gained early publicity to investing and high-growth startups. The startup connects households with employees for on a regular basis duties similar to cleansing and primary house companies.

The introduction was organized by Paul Hudson, founding father of Glade Brook Capital, who linked Groom and Sardana throughout her journey to San Francisco earlier this 12 months. Glade Brook has backed startups based by each: Pronto, which Sardana leads, and Bodily Intelligence, the place Groom is a co-founder. Hudson and Groom have additionally backed Indian quick-commerce startup Zepto.

Sardana stated Groom’s funding method is closely founder-driven. “He indexes two issues. One is the founder, and that’s 95% of it. If he loves the founder, then he’ll make investments,” she advised TechCrunch, including that the remaining comes right down to the size and potential of the enterprise.

Groom’s wager comes as a clutch of startups in India race to construct on the spot house companies platforms, a class that’s seeing fast adoption amongst city households as extra customers flip to on-demand assist for on a regular basis duties.

The chance is important. A current Financial institution of America observe, reviewed by TechCrunch, estimates the moment house companies market in India may develop right into a $15 billion to $18 billion trade by the tip of the last decade, as corporations together with Pronto, Snabbit, and City Firm’s InstaHelp compete for share within the fast-growing class.

Competitors is intensifying, with heavy capital inflows and aggressive pricing, significantly to draw first-time customers. Financial institution of America estimates that Snabbit and City Firm’s InstaHelp every account for about 40% of the market, whereas Pronto has round a 20% share, even because it scales quickly. The class is anticipated to stay “burn-heavy” over the following two to a few years.

Regardless of trailing bigger rivals, Pronto has been scaling quickly, rising from round 18,000 bookings a day to 26,000 in simply over a month. The startup is targeted on driving repeat utilization, betting that turning occasional demand into frequent, habit-driven utilization will likely be key to profitable the class, with its prime 10% of customers accounting for about 40% of bookings.

This development has additionally introduced challenges, significantly in constructing out provide. Pronto has expanded its community of service employees to six,500, up from 1,440 in January. However Sardana stated demand continues to outpace provide, making forecasting and capability administration key challenges because the startup grows.