Handybook Rebrands As Handy, Says It Grew 10x in Past 9 Months
New York-based Handybook, which allows users to book pre-approved home service providers through a mobile app or website, is dropping the “book” from its name, rebranding as Handy to avoid confusion with — well — books. The company’s chief executive Oisin Hanrahan believes the move will help the company develop the type of brand that has helped to propel Uber and Airbnb into multi-billion dollar companies.
Street Fight Daily: Yahoo Buys Flurry, Urban Compass Raises $40M
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yahoo Acquires Flurry to Bolster Mobile Offerings (New York Times)… Urban Compass Raises Money at $360 Million Valuation (Bloomberg)… Airbnb Drops Homejoy From Cleaning Trial, Handybook Remains On In Three Test Markets (TechCrunch)…
As Home Services Market Heats Up, Handybook COO Sees Big Opportunity
Last month, Revolution, the venture firm helmed by Case as well as Groupon chairman Ted Leonisis, led a $30 million investment in Handybook, a company that helps people book housecleaners and other home service providers. Street Fight caught up with Umang Dua, co-founder of HandyBook, to talk about the company’s evolving competitive set and the growing speculation around Uber’s valuation…
Street Fight Daily: Google Plans Same-Day Delivery, Brands Eye App-Install Ads
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Inside Google’s Big Plan to Race Amazon To Your Door (Re/Code)… Matt Cutts, Google’s Head of Webspam, Is Going on Indefinite Leave — Publishers Likely Won’t Miss Him (PandoDaily)… Will Brand Dollars Ever Come to App-Install Ads? (AdAge)…
Street Fight Daily: Foursquare Ads Tap Twitter, Airbnb Courts Cities
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Foursquare’s New Ads Tap Twitter And Require $100K Commitment (AdWeek)… Airbnb Cozies up to Cities (Fortune)… Charting the Years-Long Decline of Local News Reporting (Washington Post)…
Street Fight Daily: AOL Unloads Patch, Handybook Buys Exec
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology.…. AOL Unloads Most of Patch Local-News Site (Wall Street Journal)… Handybook Buys Exec in a Deal for the On-Demand World (New York Times)… Jack Dorsey Says The Receipt Is Untapped “Canvas” And “Publishing Medium” (BuzzFeed)…
Handybook Co-Founder: The Key To Scaling Local Is Great Service
Mobile bookings services are on the rise as consumers look to use their smartphones to do more than find information about local businesses. Enter Handybook, a New York-based technology company that allows users to book household services on its site and app. Street Fight recently spoke with Umang Dua, Handybook’s co-founder, to find out more about the consumer services space and Handybook’s plans to impact the way customers book household services…
6 On-Demand Home Service Marketplaces
By going beyond basic business listings and customer reviews, and allowing consumers to actually schedule and pay for their home service providers online, hyperlocal vendors are closing the loop and converting more online prospects into paying customers. Here are six examples of hyperlocal marketplaces that consumers can use to research, reserve, and even pay for home service professionals…
Consolidation Watch — Where to Look for Deals in Local Tech
The first half of 2013 saw total investment activity, which includes both M&A and private financing, grow from a year earlier, as the number of deals stayed flat but total reported deal value jumped from $5.2 billion to $7.2 billion over the same period. Expect to see more deals — both large and small — in the local space as big firms search for a foothold in the industry and host of maturing startups look for the exit…