Bengaluru: India-focused investment firm Dharana Capital has purchased shares worth ₹ 400 crore, or $50 million, in Urban Company from the home-services marketplace’s employees and other shareholders. The transaction marks the largest liquidity of employee stock options in Urban Company’s history, the company said in a statement. “Urban Company, with its full-stack approach and focus on partner enablement, has built a strong, capital-efficient and durable business in a challenging local services market,” said Vamsi Duvvuri, founder and managing partner of Dharana Capital, who will join the board of Urban Company as a non-executive director.
Dharana Capital, which typically invests in technology and consumer-focused companies, has also backed insurance platform Zopper, lending platform Lentra, and NoBroker, a real-estate services company that has also ventured into at-home salon services, carpentry, and AC repair, similar to those of Urban Company’s. While Urban Company did not disclose the deal valuation, secondary transactions generally take place at a discount to the value of the primary shares. In a secondary transaction, shareholders sell their stakes to other existing or new investors, and no new capital is injected into the company.
Sniffing profits Urban Company was last valued at $2.1 billion when it raised $255 million in June 2021 and entered the unicorn club–startups estimated to be worth at least $1 billion. Since then, the company has not seen any p.
