27. Housekeep

Founder: Avin Rabheru
Founded: October 2013 (launched November 2013)
Website: https://housekeep.com/

Scaling a business to over £1m revenue, profitability and thousands of users are achievements that would take most businesses several years to accomplish, yet home cleaning start-up Housekeep has managed to hit these milestones just 18 months since launch.

The online platform enables users to book professional, insured home cleaners at an affordable rate; targeting time poor individuals living in London. Founder Avin Rabheru came up with the idea after deciding to “tackle a big, existing market with new technology” and identifying home cleaning services as the most “attractive option” – a wise choice considering the number of successful new players in the market.

A former angel investor with investments in several early stage businesses such as Crowdcube, Kabbee and Streetcar, Rabheru says it was always “going to be a natural step to take on the challenge of building [his] own [start-up]” and it’s clear that his entrepreneurial pursuit has paid off.

Since featuring in the Startups 100 2014, Housekeep has gone on to raise $1m funding in a deal led by the Pentland Group; named the ‘Best Angel-VC Deal of the Year’ at the 2014 UK Business Angels Awards, and achieved five-fold growth since December last year. Not bad for a start-up which was initially self-funded with £10,000.

Named as a People’s Champion finalist in the 2014 Startups Awards, despite operating in a competitive market, Housekeep’s growth shows no signs of abating…