Cash burn across the rapidly growing instant househelp sector rose 14% month-on-month (MoM) to $16-17 million in June, according to industry executives, as competition for customers intensified. In May, the combined cash burn of Urban Company’s InstaHelp, Snabbit, and Pronto stood at $14-15 million. The higher spending helped revive demand, which had sputtered in May, the executives said.
Cash burn refers to the amount of money a startup spends — in excess of its revenues — over a given period to fund its operations.
Total orders across the three platforms grew 20% MoM to 3.97 million in June, with Snabbit clocking 1.51 million bookings, marginally overtaking market leader InstaHelp, which had 1.5 million. Pronto recorded 960,000 bookings.
In terms of app usage, Urban Company's monthly active users stood at 6.7 million in May per a Morgan Stanley report, compared to 3.8 million for Pronto and 1.4 million for Snabbit.
By net transaction value (NTV) — calculated as orders multiplied by the post-discount average order value (AOV) — Urban Company retained its lead with 45-46% market share, aided by its higher AOVs. Snabbit followed with 36-37%, while Pronto, with the lowest AOV, accounted for 16-17%, according to industry insiders.
