For many investors, the business of home cleaning appears to be a lucrative field.
Homejoy, a year-old start-up that connects customers with prescreened cleaners, said on Thursday that it has raised $38 million in new capital. The round’s investors included Google Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and the entrepreneur Max Levchin.
The new investments â€" which bring Homejoy’s total fund-raising to about $40 million â€" follow a $10 million round raised by a similar service, Handybook, in October.
In some ways, both represent investors’ interest in a budding category: on-demand services, a field pioneered by the likes of Uber, the car ride provider. Such companies serve as middlemen, connecting customers to a disparate array of professionals.
Home cleaning is one of the most obvious ways to apply that business model. Homejoy’s spin is that it lets customers book cleaners for a specified time, paying $20 an hour. The job assignments are bonded and insured, and if clients aren’t happy, Homejoy offers to re-clean the house without charge.
“Homejoy is at the forefront of reinventing the home cleaning industry, while creating a platform that provides access to opportunities for professional service providers who want a flexible and convenient option for themselves and their families,†Adora Cheung, Homejoy’s co-founder and chief executive, said in a statement.
