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Fixzy is trying to take the pain of finding a reputable person to fix that broken fan or leaky faucet
Fixzy, a Thailand-based on-demand startup for handymen, announced today it has raised a seed round of around US$300,000 at a valuation of close to US$2 million.
“The seed round gives the application three times the value from the time of its initial investment [from] Iyara VC,” the company release reads.
The investment came from three unnamed high-net-worth individuals with the detail of ‘a prominent leader in the Thai Chamber of Commerce’ being included.
The investment is considered a seed round after an incubation fund from Iyara VC — a US$9.3 million venture fund launched in 2015 with the explicit goal of investing in 100 software companies over the next five years.
“We plan to double the growth of every milestone we have achieved so far as there is a plan to aggressively expand to the other major provinces in Thailand. The first province outside of Bangkok that we already have presence in is Khonkaen, and the reception there has been phenomenal,” said Fixzy CEO Ruchvuth Pichayapan in an official statement.
In the world of on-demand apps and services, Fixzy’s handyman business model has peers across the region — In Indonesia Tukang.id launched a mobile app in March and in India, IndiKrew is now owned by Houzkare.
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For proficient users of on-demand services, Fixzy makes perfect sense as a broken fan, leaky pipe or defective appliance can be a headache to have fixed.
Launched a year ago, Pichayapan says the company has been growing at a rate of 30 to 35 per cent and, “We believe that Fixzy can continue grow at least 20 to 30 per cent a month and will break-even within the next eight or 10 months”.
The company generates revenue from three sources; pre-paid promotions, membership of the handymen and revenue from transactions.
Potential members must go through a screening and background check before being allowed to use the service and Fixzy said it follows up after the job to make sure the customer is satisfied.
Iyara Co-founder Chatchai Tolertmongkol says over the last year there have been “at least two” offers to acquire Fixzy but the VC firm felt the valuation was far too low. So, the strategy is to raise the round and, if things go smoothly, Fixzy will expand as Tolertmongkol believes it can.
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“We are glad to see the progress of Fixzy. I admit that Iyara VC has taken its time with selecting its startups, but we believe it is more important to grow each investment successfully,” he said.
“We put substantial efforts within our investees, and want to make sure that they follow the right path. We don’t believe in the ‘invest and abandon’ concept.”
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