Portuguese home services app OSCAR raises over €6 million.
OSCAR instantly connects users with over 12,000 highly qualified technicians, including plumbers, electricians, cleaning professionals, laundry technicians and even beauticians offering in-home manicure and pedicure services, and offers fixed prices on over 150 services.
The idea for OSCAR was born when Marques called three technicians from different websites to fix his water heater at home, but faced difficulties when no one showed up.
After this experience, Joan Marques saw a gap in the market and decided to take action. He left his job as a software engineer and embarked on this project. His first investor was the CEO of the company he worked for. OSCAR now serves over 300,000 customers and serves over 7 million euros per year.
Intelligent algorithms enable the platform to dispatch experts within 30 minutes and predict challenges during service.
And in the fight against the grey economy in domestic services, the app stands out as an important ally: it allows users and partners to monitor the entire process in real time.
João Marques, Founder and CEO of OSCAR, commented:
“It took OSCAR three years to become the market leader in the Iberian Peninsula because there were problems with home equipment but no effective online solutions were available, which shows how much the home services market needed a new disruptive approach.
Our goal is clear: we want to become the number one home services app in Europe within the next two years.”
The funding was co-led by Lince Capital and Indico Capital Partners, with participation from Failup Ventures, Olisipo Way, Boost Capital Partners, Quiet Capital, and the founders of unicorns Bolt and Wolt.
Francisco Formigal Pinto, Fund Manager at Lince Capital and Director of OSCAR, added:
“OSCAR’s success highlights a clear supply gap that existed in this sector, but more importantly it is down to the execution of management who successfully aligned the needs of both customers and engineers, adding value to both.
As one of OSCAR’s first investors, Lince Capital has witnessed the company’s rapid growth and helped it establish itself as a market leader in Portugal.
We are therefore very excited about the possibilities of expanding in Spain and want to continue our mission of supporting the best entrepreneurial projects with Portuguese DNA.”
Stephan Morais, Managing General Partner at Indico Capital Partners, explains:
“The home repair market is particularly challenging as quality varies widely between service providers and there is a tendency for them to try to exit the market once a relationship with a customer has been established.
OSCAR’s model was interesting to us because it minimizes this aspect and creates a win-win relationship for all parties involved: OSCAR, the service provider and the client.”
Main image: OSCAR. Photo: Uncredited.
