On-demand services that link small businesses to consumers have been mushrooming. These marketplaces for services connect small businesses to consumers directly by allowing the latter to request for services via their website or app. To simplify the way customers find and engage with service providers, a Malaysian based startup has grabbed our attention—ServisHero.
Newly launched ServisHero describe themselves as the “MyTeksi” for the local services industry. What ServisHero offers is that it connects small businesses, for instance plumbers, cleaners, wedding planners, gym coach, to consumers with a location-aware mobile app.
Founded by Karl Loo, he cites the idea of ServisHero as the result of a personal epiphany after looking in vain for an air conditioner repair-person. Karl hopes that he could achieve and help to transform Asia’s service industry into a cooperative and efficient space and help uplift income levels for thousands of individual professionals and small business owners around South East Asia.
Karl Loo said in their recent press release, “We are working on improving the state of the service industry, by connecting customers directly with the right service providers, we are hoping to help thousands of small business owners grow their businesses.”
If you thought that the name ‘Karl Loo’ rings a bell, that’s because he has co-founded several e-commerce companies in Africa, and most recently launched the Silicon Valley office for Y-Combinator company, Memebox.
“MyTeksi” for Services
To get started, you sign up for an account and you have the option of linking your account with your Facebook profile or email address (pretty standard procedure). As for the service that I required, I chose gardening as an example.
Hiring Your Personal Hero
Personally, I find the form-filling function of ServisHero quite impressive. As soon as you open the app, you can choose the services that you want and the form itself lets you know what are the details that you need to provide. So you don’t have to crack your head thinking about what sort of information is necessary to get the job done.
After you submit the form, ServisHero will then instantly pair your job with the most relevant Heroes who will send you a quote. Then you can review multiple quotes that come back and hire the Hero who is right for you!
Cost is always a sensitive issue when it comes to paying for services, mainly because there is no fixed price range and it varies according to difference service providers. Therefore, transparent pricing is crucial for users to find an app reliable, and that is something which ServisHero provides.
Within hours, interested Heroes will review your request and they will send you custom quotes. Each quote will include the Hero profile, reviews from previous customers, a personal message and an estimated price for the job. After that, you can contact any Hero for more information.
Other than that, users can also post up their reviews, to create a safe and respectable environment for the community of users.
I can’t help but think that ServisHero sort of reminds me of Kaodim.com, a startup we covered last year. RecomN.com is another similar startup but it operates in more states throughout Malaysia. What’s different is that both Kaodim.com and Recomn.com are websites, whereas ServisHero is a first-of-its-kind mobile app in Southeast Asia.
ServisHero has thus far gathered hundreds of service providers across Klang Valley and Johor Bahru to join their platform. Though the concept itself isn’t something that’s particularly new, ServisHero stands a chance to make a difference in the busy lifestyle of users who want to look for the best service in a short time, on an easy-to-use app platform and for an affordable price.
How do we know this? Because it has successfully raised a whopping pre-seed round of US$750,000 in funding, which the team at ServisHero claims that it is possibly one of the largest pre-seed funding in Malaysian startup history.
Convinced to find your own hero? The ServisHero app is currently available on Android and they have an iOS version on the way.
