German on-demand cleaning startup Helpling today announced its expansion to the UAE, Australia and Singapore while acquiring local competitor Spickify less than a year after its launch.
This move solidifies the company’s status as one of the world’s most widely available online marketplaces for household services, serving more than 200 cities in 12 countries. Building momentum, the company also announced the acquisition of its Singapore-based competitor Spickify, whose founder Yeen Tack Hoe becomes the new CEO of the local Helpling organisation.
Helpling challenges a market that has previously been characterised as non-transparent or administration heavy – going through agencies, classified listings or through recommendations on the black market. By contrast, customers of the online portal can find a professional cleaner in only a few clicks. All cleaners work legally and the service can be booked for single or recurring jobs, in as little as 36 hours in advance.
Benedikt Franke, founder of Helpling, said: “What Singapore, UAE and Australia share is that they have the perfect trifecta for our business model: a very service orientated consumer culture, with a history of home services. These countries also have a very well developed e- and mobile consumer culture but the home services industry has, thus far, not kept up or integrated the advantages that digitisation brings along. We are here to fill this gap.”
In Singapore, Helpling has acquired its local competitor Spickify, whose trademark will be rebranded as Helpling with immediate effect. The company’s co-founder and CEO Hoe Yeen Teck has joined Helpling as the new country manager. The deal brings together the two companies’ respective strengths in one single organisation – Helpling’s expertise in technology and operations and Spickify’s deep understanding of local consumer preferences.
Spickify’s co-founder, and newly appointed CEO of Helpling Singapore, Hoe Yeen Teck says: “Spickify was started as a community project to match low-income residents in our neighbourhood with cleaning assignments, in nearby private apartments. Helpling’s robust online platform will allow us to expand our services across the island and provide customers with great cleaning service while giving independent cleaners a better way to obtain clients.”
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