Homejoy

Homejoy, Inc.
Private
Industry Cleaning services
Founded 2010
Headquarters San Francisco, California, USA
Key people
 Adora Cheung (Co-founder & CEO)
Aaron Cheung (Co-founder & VP of Growth)
Services House cleaning
Number of employees
 100+
Website www.homejoy.com

Homejoy is an online platform which connects customers with house cleaners. The company is based in San Francisco.[1][2] Homejoy serves the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom[3] for a total of over 31 major cities. It charges a variable rate of $25–$35 per hour (or £13 an hour in the UK).[4]

History

Homejoy was founded in 2010 by siblings Adora and Aaron Cheung, who now work as CEO and VP of Growth, respectively.[5] Originally, the company was named Pathjoy.[6][7]

Co-founder Adora Cheung did the first few cleaning jobs herself, and until late 2013 continued to work at least one cleaning job per month.[8][9]

Homejoy received an undisclosed amount of funding from Y Combinator in March 2010, but began operations in 2012.[5] The company raised another $1.7 million in seed funding in early 2013.[6] The seed investors included Andreessen Horowitz,[10] First Round Capital, Resolute.VC, and other individuals and groups.[5] Since then, there have been two other rounds of fundraising conducted by Homejoy (Series A and Series B). Series A was conducted in October 2013, and the amount invested during this round has not been publicly disclosed. After Series B, led by Google Ventures,[11] completed in early December 2013, the total raised from both rounds was around $38 million.[12][13][14]

In April 2014, Homejoy expanded into the United Kingdom, its first market outside North America.[15] It charges £13 per hour, of which cleaners earn between £7 and £9.5.[11]

Operations

Homejoy is currently run by a team of over 100 employees, and works with thousands of independent professional cleaners in their cities of operation as of early 2014.[13] They charge a uniform rate of $25 an hour[16] for service. Cleanings are fully bonded, and cleaners contracting on the platform have gone through a screening process which involves third-party background checks and a certification process.[14]

Homejoy’s company culture focuses on the use of technology to increase operating efficiency.[17][18][19] Investors have also credited Homejoy for creating jobs in a slow job market by connecting their service to the demand and expanding their scope beyond traditional house cleaning companies.[20][21][22]

Homejoy Foundation

In December 2013, Homejoy announced the establishment of the Homejoy Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports initiatives for veterans and their families.[23][24][25]

References

  1. ↑ "Homejoy". CrunchBase. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  2. ↑ Tam, Donna (4 October 2013). "Online home-cleaning service Homejoy expands rapidly, hits 31 cities". CNET. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  3. ↑ Williams-Grut, Oscar (10 April 2014). "Google-backed US start-up Homejoy opens London headquarters". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  4. ↑ Czikk, Joseph (20 September 2013). "Homejoy Launches in Second Canadian City After Success at Home". Betakit. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Homejoy". AngelList. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ha, Anthony (5 March 2013). "Home Cleaning Service Pathjoy Becomes Homejoy, Raises $1.7M From Andreessen Horowitz And Others". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  7. ↑ Carney, Michael (17 January 2013). "PathJoy brings its economical on-demand maid service to LA and Seattle". Pando Daily. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  8. ↑ Naasel, Kenrya Rankin (1 April 2014). "The Homejoy Creation Story: It All Started With A Dirty Bathroom". FastCompany. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  9. ↑ Truong, Alice (13 February 2014). "Homejoy, The Startup That Makes All New Hires Scrub Toilets". Fast Company. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  10. ↑ Jordan, Jeff (19 December 2013). "Local Heroes: The Public Companies of Tomorrow". Andreesen Horowitz. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Robehmed, Natalie (10 April 2014). "House Cleaning Startup Homejoy Expands To London". Forbes. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  12. ↑ Ha, Anthony (5 December 2013). "Homejoy Raises $38M As It Looks To Expand Beyond Home Cleaning". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Gannes, Liz (5 December 2013). "Homejoy Raises $38M to Bring $20/Hour Home Cleaning to the Masses". All Things D. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Kolodny, Lora (5 December 2013). "Homejoy Raises $38M for House Cleaning On Demand". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  15. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (9 April 2014). "Homejoy Comes To Clean Up The UK, Its First Market Outside North America, For £13/Hour". TechCrunch. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  16. ↑ "Get Your Place Cleaned". Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  17. ↑ Ha, Anthony (18 August 2013). "Behind The Scenes At Homejoy, A Cleaning Startup That Says It’s Really A Tech Company". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  18. ↑ Posterli, Bianca (19 March 2013). "The Uber for Apartment Cleaning". Glam. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  19. ↑ Schwartz, Carly (7 May 2013). "Homejoy, Online House Cleaning Service, Aims To Be The 'Uber' Of Its Field". Huffington Post. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  20. ↑ Pennington, Maura (26 September 2013). "The Upside Of A Bleak Job Market: Millennials Creating Opportunities". Forbes. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  21. ↑ Wohlsen, Marcus (5 December 2013). "Google Pours Millions Into New Tech Gold Rush: Housecleaning". Wired. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  22. ↑ Grant, Rebecca (5 December 2013). "Homejoy sweeps up millions of dollars to liberate you from the burden of brooms". VentureBeat. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  23. ↑ Grant, Rebecca (27 November 2013). "YC startup Homejoy establishes charitable foundation to help veterans". VentureBeat. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  24. ↑ "About Us". Homejoy Foundation. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  25. ↑ Larson, Selena (25 January 2014). "Meet 6 Entrepreneurs Who Use Tech To Change The World". ReadWrite. Retrieved 12 February 2014.

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