As the fast house assistance industry grows, Snabbit records over 8 lakh February orders

New Delhi: Instant house help startup Snabbit has reported sharp growth in order volumes, clocking 830,000 orders in February, up from around 500,000 in December, founder and CEO Aayush Agarwal told ET.

Agarwal said new users accounted for 20–25% of the company’s monthly transacting users (MTUs) in February, as the startup deepened its presence across existing markets including Delhi-NCR, Pune, Bengaluru and Mumbai. MTUs refer to the number of unique users completing at least one paid transaction on the platform in a month.

“What’s important is that this growth hasn’t come from aggressively expanding into new micro-markets. We’re still operating in a relatively small footprint. In fact, some of our core markets are now touching around 1,500 jobs on peak days,” Agarwal said.

Backed by Lightspeed and Nexus Venture Partners, Snabbit has expanded from 87 micro-markets in December to around 108 hyperlocal markets currently.

Rising competition

The growth comes amid intensifying competition in the instant home services segment. On February 23, rival Urban Company crossed the 50,000 daily bookings mark on a peak day, while Pronto surpassed 15,000 orders on its peak day. These figures represent single-day highs rather than average daily bookings.

The instant help category forms part of the broader home services industry, which was valued at $60 billion in FY25 and is projected to reach $100 billion by FY30, according to a recent report by Jefferies. The sector includes beauty and wellness, home repairs, cleaning and renovation services.

Changing consumer behaviour

Agarwal said consumer behaviour is shifting toward on-demand services, particularly among bachelors and young couples who prefer convenience over hiring full-time domestic help.

“We’re seeing a clear shift in consumer behaviour. Certain cohorts are choosing the convenience of on-demand home services over the effort and uncertainty of finding and hiring full-time help themselves. This is leading to order frequency increasing for repeat customers, where we don’t have to spend a lot to retain them,” he said.

He added that a significant portion of growth is coming from deeper penetration within existing markets rather than new geographic expansion, which is also improving profitability metrics.

“Our mature micromarkets are now operating at 55–60% utilisation consistently, with weekends touching higher numbers. A large share of growth is coming from existing markets, which continue to deepen steadily. That’s encouraging not just from a scale perspective, but also from a profitability standpoint, as supply utilisation increases with micromarket densification,” Agarwal said.

Cash burn concerns

However, competition among the top three players has led to rising cash burn as companies spend aggressively to acquire customers in new markets. ET had earlier reported that between August and December 2025, the industry’s monthly cash burn more than doubled from $2–3 million to $7–8 million.

In January, Accel-backed startup Pync, which was building a house help platform in Bengaluru, shut down operations. Its founders later joined Snabbit in senior roles across operations and business functions.

As the segment heats up, profitability and operational efficiency are likely to become key differentiators among players competing in India’s fast-growing home services market.