Imagine this: It’s a hectic weekday morning in a bustling metro city. A young working couple is juggling back-to-back meetings when they realise their house help hasn’t turned up. The sink is piled high, the clock is ticking, and there’s no Plan B. A few taps on a smartphone later, help arrives at the door.
That everyday urban scramble is precisely the gap Pronto is stepping in to fill, and investors are paying attention.
The 11-month-old household-help app has raised $25 million in a Series B round led by Epiq Capital at a $100 million valuation, underscoring surging demand for services such as services like cleaning and other domestic assistance among India’s rapidly expanding middle class.
SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR, DREAMING BIG
For founder and CEO Anjali Sardana, just 23, Pronto’s story is less about valuation milestones and more about resilience.
It’s the kind of startup narrative that captures the imagination, a young founder, relentless hustle, and a product rooted in solving everyday problems. But the early days were anything but glamorous.
“Nine months ago we had one hub in Sector 56, Gurgaon. We were sleeping on the floor to ensure customers who had made a booking received reliable service. We were doing about 170 bookings per day,” Sardana wrote on X.
From that single hub in Gurugram to a presence across 10 cities, the growth has been swift. Today, nearly half of Pronto’s demand comes from the New Delhi region, with about a fifth from its home base of Bengaluru. The platform now clocks more than 18,000 bookings daily, and over 4,500 professionals worked at least one shift on the app last month.
“We’re now at over 18,000 bookings a day with more than 3,000 dedicated and happy Pros on the platform. We know most of the work is still ahead of us,” she said.
SUPPLY STRUGGLES AMID RISING DEMAND
Pronto allows users to order instant domestic help, turning what was once an informal, word-of-mouth market into an organised, tech-enabled service.
The timing couldn’t be better. As India’s middle class grows and dual-income households become increasingly common, convenience is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. Long work hours and packed schedules are fueling demand for dependable, app-based household support.
Sardana believes this demand is only getting started.
Bookings have grown about 20% week-on-week over the past three months, leaving the company “deeply supply constrained,” she said.
SOLVING THE SUPPLY PUZZLE
If demand is strong, supply is the real battleground.
A large portion of the newly raised capital will be deployed toward expanding the worker base, particularly through referral rewards and technology tools aimed at attracting and retaining professionals, she said.
“If you acquire 20% additional supply this week, you have 20% more people who refer others into the pipeline,” Sardana explained, outlining the compounding nature of network growth.
On average, workers on Pronto complete seven gigs a day. The platform offers baseline pay for logged-in hours along with per-booking incentives. According to Sardana, a worker putting in 20 days a month can earn upwards of 25,000 rupees on average, with additional upside through bonuses and referrals.
In a country where average monthly income stands at around Rs 32,000, according to job website Shine, the earning potential is notable, especially in a sector that has long operated informally.
COMPETITION AND CONFIDENCE
Pronto operates in an increasingly competitive space, going up against fast-growing rival Snabbit and listed player Urban Co. Yet Sardana remains focused on execution rather than rivalry.
She owns 40% of the company, while Glade Brook is the largest external shareholder with about 15%. For now, profitability is not the priority.
“Profitability is a conscious choice at each point in time,” she said, making it clear that growth remains the focus.
BUILDING A NEW KIND OF GIG ECONOMY
Beyond the funding headline and triple-digit valuation, Pronto represents something larger, the formalisation of domestic work through technology.
By introducing structured pay, incentives and operational scale, the startup is attempting to reshape how household services are delivered and perceived in urban India. What was once fragmented and informal is steadily becoming organised and platform-driven.
From sleeping on office floors to building a nine-figure company in under a year, Sardana’s journey mirrors a broader shift unfolding across India, i.e., youthful ambition meeting digital infrastructure, backed by a middle class willing to pay for convenience.
Despite the meteoric rise, Sardana remains grounded. “We know most of the work is still ahead of us,” she wrote.
And if growth continues at its current pace, this may just be the beginning of an even bigger success story.
