Lachy Groom, a prominent Silicon Valley solo investor, decided to support the Indian startup Pronto within just 20 minutes of his first meeting with its 24-year-old founder. The meeting, facilitated through a mutual connection in February, resulted in Groom investing $20 million in Pronto as an extension of its Series B round, valuing the startup at $200 million post-investment—double its valuation just over two months prior, as previously reported by TechCrunch. The deal was finalized within weeks, welcoming the solo investor on board as the Bengaluru-based startup expands to address the growing demand for on-demand home services in India.
Groom found Pronto’s ambition to build the world’s largest platform for organizing domestic labor compelling, focusing initially on India’s vast and largely unstructured workforce. “The work underneath that is genuinely hard, and most attempts in adjacent categories have struggled with the operational discipline,” he noted, acknowledging that Pronto founder Anjali Sardana and her team operated “at a level I haven’t seen elsewhere in this space.”
Before founding Pronto in 2025, Sardana worked at Bain Capital and venture firm 8VC, where she gained early exposure to investing and high-growth startups. Pronto connects households with workers for everyday tasks like cleaning and basic home services.
The introduction was arranged by 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 founded by both: Pronto, led by Sardana, and Physical Intelligence, where Groom is a co-founder. Hudson and Groom have also backed Indian quick-commerce startup Zepto.
Sardana highlighted Groom’s heavily founder-driven investment approach. “He indexes two things. One is the founder, and that’s 95% of it. If he loves the founder, then he will invest,” she shared with TechCrunch, noting that the rest concerns the business’s scale and potential.
Groom’s investment arrives as multiple startups in India compete to establish instant home services platforms, witnessing rapid adoption among urban households turning to on-demand help for daily tasks.
The opportunity is considerable. A recent Bank of America note, reviewed by TechCrunch, anticipates the instant home services market in India could balloon into a $15 billion to $18 billion industry by the decade’s close, amid competition from companies such as Pronto, Snabbit, and Urban Company’s InstaHelp.
Competition intensifies with substantial capital inflows and aggressive pricing strategies, especially to attract first-time users. Bank of America estimates Snabbit and Urban Company’s InstaHelp each capture about 40% of the market, with Pronto holding roughly a 20% share, despite its rapid scale-up. The category is projected to stay “burn-heavy” over the next two to three years.
Even while trailing larger rivals, Pronto has experienced fast growth, increasing from approximately 18,000 bookings a day to 26,000 in just over a month. The startup concentrates on driving repeat usage, aiming to convert occasional demand into frequent, habit-driven usage, with its top 10% of users representing about 40% of bookings.
This growth also brings challenges, particularly in expanding supply. Pronto has grown its network of service workers to 6,500, up from 1,440 in January. However, Sardana notes that demand continues to outpace supply, making forecasting and capacity management primary challenges as the startup advances.