Lachy Groom, one of Silicon Valley’s most cautious individual investors, decided to back the Indian startup Quickly just 20 minutes after his first meeting with its 24-year-old founder.
The meeting, which took place in February through a mutual connection, led to Groom investing $20 million in Pronto as an extension of its Series B round, valuing the startup at $200 million after the investment — double its valuation just over two months earlier, as TechCrunch previously reported. The deal closed within weeks, bringing in the solo investor as the Bengaluru-based startup expands to meet growing demand for on-demand home services in India.
Groom said he was drawn to Pronto’s ambition to create what he called the world’s largest platform for organizing domestic work, starting with India’s vast and largely unstructured workforce. “The work underneath is really difficult and most efforts in adjacent categories have struggled with operational discipline,” he said, adding that Pronto founder Anjali Sardana (pictured above) and her team were operating “at a level I haven’t seen elsewhere in this space.”
Before founding Pronto in 2025, Sardana worked at Bain Capital and venture capital firm 8VC, where she gained early exposure to investments and high-growth startups. The startup connects households with workers for daily tasks such as cleaning and basic household services.
The introduction was arranged through Paul Hudson, founder of Glade Brook Capital, who connected Groom and Sardana during her trip to San Francisco earlier this year. Glade Brook has backed startups they both founded: Pronto, which Sardana leads, and Physical Intelligence, where Groom is a co-founder. Hudson and Groom has also backed Indian e-commerce startup Zepto.
Sardana said Groom’s investment approach is heavily founder-driven. “It creates two things. One is the founder, and that’s 95% of it. If he loves the founder, then he’ll invest,” he told TechCrunch, adding that the rest is about the scale and potential of the business.
Groom’s bet comes as a group of startups in India scramble to create home-service platforms, a category that is rapidly being adopted by urban households as more consumers turn to on-demand help with everyday tasks.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco, California
|
13-15 October 2026
The opportunity is important. A recent Bank of America note, reviewed by TechCrunch, estimates that the direct home services market in India could grow into a $15 billion to $18 billion industry by the end of the decade, as companies like Pronto, Snabbit and Urban Company’s InstaHelp compete for share in the fast-growing category.
Competition is intensifying, with strong capital inflows and aggressive pricing, especially to attract first-time users. Bank of America estimates that Snabbit and Urban Company’s InstaHelp represents about 40% of the market, while Pronto has about a 20% share, although it is scaling quickly. The category is expected to remain “heavy” for the next two to three years.
Despite trailing larger rivals, Pronto has scaled quickly, growing from about 18,000 bookings a day to 26,000 in just over a month. The startup is focused on driving repeat use, betting that turning occasional demand into frequent, habit-based use will be key to winning the category, with the top 10% of users accounting for about 40% of bookings.
This growth has also brought challenges, particularly in terms of generating supply. Pronto has expanded its network of service workers to 6,500, up from 1,440 in January. However, Sardana said demand continues to outstrip supply, making forecasting and capacity management key challenges as the startup grows.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect our editorial independence.
