Indian startup Pronto secures backing from Lachy Groom after a 20-minute pitch

Solo investor Lachy Groom decided to back Indian startup Pronto just 20 minutes into his first conversation with the company’s 24-year-old founder, Anjali Sardana. The meeting, arranged through a mutual connection, quickly led to Groom investing $20 million in Pronto as an extension of its Series B funding round. The deal valued the Bengaluru-based startup at $200 million after the investment, doubling its valuation from just over two months earlier.

The agreement came together within a matter of weeks and added Groom to Pronto’s growing list of investors as the startup works to expand its on-demand home services platform across India. Groom said he was attracted to Pronto’s vision of building what he described as one of the world’s largest platforms for organising domestic labour, starting with India’s massive, largely unstructured workforce.

“The work underneath that is genuinely hard, and most attempts in adjacent categories have struggled with the operational discipline,” Groom said. He added that founder Anjali Sardana and her team were operating “at a level I haven’t seen elsewhere in this space.” Before launching Pronto in 2025, Sardana worked at Bain Capital and venture firm 8VC, where she gained early experience in investing and high-growth startups. Pronto focuses on connecting households with workers for everyday services such as cleaning and other basic home-related tasks.

The introduction between Groom and Sardana was facilitated by Paul Hudson, founder of Glade Brook Capital. Hudson connected the two during Sardana’s visit to San Francisco earlier this year.

Glade Brook has invested in startups founded by both entrepreneurs, including Pronto and Physical Intelligence, where Groom is a co-founder. Hudson and Groom have also backed Indian quick-commerce startup Zepto.

According to Sardana, Groom’s investment philosophy is heavily centred around founders. “He indexes two things. One is the founder, and that’s 95% of it. If he loves the founder, then he will invest,” Sardana said, adding that the remaining factor is the scale and long-term potential of the business.

Groom’s investment comes as competition intensifies among startups building instant home services platforms in India. The category has been seeing rapid adoption among urban consumers who increasingly rely on on-demand workers for household tasks.

The market opportunity is also becoming more significant. A recent Bank of America report estimates that India’s instant home services sector could grow into a $15 billion to $18 billion industry by the end of the decade. Companies including Pronto, Snabbit, and Urban Company’s InstaHelp are all competing aggressively for market share.

The sector is attracting large amounts of capital, while companies continue to use aggressive pricing strategies to acquire first-time users. According to Bank of America estimates, Snabbit and Urban Company’s InstaHelp each currently hold roughly 40% of the market, while Pronto accounts for about 20% as it continues scaling quickly.

Analysts also expect the sector to remain heavily loss-making over the next two to three years as companies prioritise expansion and growth. Despite operating against larger competitors, Pronto has been growing rapidly. The startup increased daily bookings from around 18,000 to approximately 26,000 in just over a month.

Pronto is now focusing heavily on increasing repeat customer usage, believing that turning occasional customers into habitual users will be critical for long-term success. Sardana said the company’s top 10% of users currently account for nearly 40% of all bookings on the platform.

The company’s fast expansion has also created operational challenges, particularly around building supply to meet rising demand. Pronto has expanded its network of service workers to 6,500, up sharply from 1,440 workers in January. However, Sardana said customer demand is still outpacing supply, making forecasting and workforce capacity management some of the startup’s biggest priorities as it continues to grow.