Web Summit: Irish entrepreneur seals $50 million funding deal

Irish entrepreneur and Handy co-founder Oisin Hanrahan has sealed a $50 million funding deal for his US-based start-up.

The start-up, which provides on-demand cleaning and DIY services, will use the funding to grow its presence in more than 28 cities.

The investment round, which brings the total amount of funding raised by Handy to just under $111 million, was led by new investor Fidelity Management, with participation from existing investors TPG Ventures, General Catalyst, Highland Capital and Revolution Growth.

New York-based Handy was founded by Dubliner and TCD graduate Hanrahan along with Umang Dua, Ignacio Leonhardt and Weina Scott in 2012.

More than 100,000 bookings are made each month on the start-up’s app, which is available in more than 28 cities.

Hanrahan says the plan to invest more in these cities before expanding to new cities and countries at the end of 2016.

“Our vision has been simple – to connect customers to professionals of virtually every home service with the tap of a button. With well over one million bookings completed through the platform, we have shown the need for a seamless, reliable, and convenient on-demand alternative,” he said.

“With this recent funding round, we will continue to increase our presence in each of our cities, offer more home services, and improve the platform to continue to deliver the experience that the hundreds of thousands of people using the platform have come to expect of us,” he added.

Back in Dublin for Web Summit, Hanrahan will take to the tech conference's centre and startup university stages tomorrow, to give insights on succeeding in multiple cities, and discuss the on-demand economy.