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Homejoy, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryCleaning services
Founded2010; 14 years ago (2010)
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
United States
Key people
Adora Cheung (CEO)
Aaron Cheung (VP of Growth)
ServicesHome services
Number of employees
100

Homejoy, Inc. was an online platform which connected customers with home service providers, including house cleaners and handymen.[1] The company was based in San Francisco.[2] Homejoy served the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom[3] for a total of over 31 major cities. It charged a variable rate of $25–$35 per hour (or £13 an hour in the UK).[4] Homejoy shut down on July 31, 2015.[5]

History

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Homejoy was founded in 2010 by siblings Adora and Aaron Cheung, who worked as CEO and VP of Growth, respectively.[6] Originally, the company was named Pathjoy.[7][8]

Co-founder Adora Cheung did the first few cleaning jobs herself, and until late 2013 continued to work at least one cleaning job per month.[9][10]

Homejoy received an undisclosed amount of funding from Y Combinator in March 2010, but began operations in 2012.[6] Paul Graham said Homejoy was the fastest growing Y Combinator company.[11]

The company raised another $1.7 million in seed funding in early 2013.[7] The seed investors included Andreessen Horowitz,[12] First Round Capital, Resolute.VC, and other individuals and groups.[6] Since then, there have been two other rounds of fundraising conducted by Homejoy (Series A and Series B). Series A was conducted in October 2013, and the amount invested during this round has not been publicly disclosed. After Series B, led by Google Ventures,[13] completed in early December 2013, the total raised from both rounds was around $38 million.[14][15][16]

In April 2014, Homejoy expanded into the United Kingdom, its first market outside North America.[17] It charged £13 per hour, of which cleaners earned between £7 and £9.5.[13]

On July 17, 2015, Homejoy announced that it would cease operations on July 31, 2015. The company cited difficulties in maintaining profitability, as well as lawsuits over whether its workers are contractors or employees.[18] Google hired portions of the company's technical staff.[19]

Operations

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Homejoy was run by a team of over 100 employees, and worked with thousands of independent professional cleaners in their cities of operation as of early 2014.[15] They charged a uniform rate of $25 an hour[20] for service. Cleanings were fully bonded, and cleaners contracting on the platform had to go through a screening process which involved third-party background checks and a certification process.[16]

Homejoy's company culture focused on the use of technology to increase operating efficiency and offer on-demand services.[21][22][23] Investors have also credited Homejoy for creating jobs in a slow job market by connecting their service to the demand and expanding their scope beyond traditional house cleaning companies.[24][25][26]

Homejoy Foundation

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In December 2013, Homejoy announced the establishment of the Homejoy Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports initiatives for veterans and their families.[27][28][29]

Controversies

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A former employee claimed there were other reasons Homejoy shut down besides the worker classification lawsuits, including a costly international expansion and the leakage of its best workers to direct employment arrangements with its own (now former) clients.[30] Some questioned growth of the customers by giving a steep $19 deal for the first cleaning, where other companies charge $85.[31]

In October 2015, three months after Homejoy shut down, Aaron Cheung, the Co-Founder of Homejoy and brother of Adora Cheung, bought and used the Homejoy customer database to start a similar company, Fly Maids. Cheung admitted that he was behind the startup after a Homejoy user found his credit card and profile information on the Fly Maid site — without even signing up. Cheung decided to shut down Fly Maids after the news became public to avoid another lawsuits due to seemingly improper usage of Homejoy customer database.[32][33]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Cohan, P.S. (2017). Disciplined Growth Strategies: Insights from the Growth Trajectories of Successful and Unsuccessful Companies. Apress. pp. 44–46. ISBN 978-1-4842-2448-9. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  2. ^ Tam, Donna (4 October 2013). "Online home-cleaning service Homejoy expands rapidly, hits 31 cities". CNET. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  3. ^ Williams-Grut, Oscar (10 April 2014). "Google-backed US start-up Homejoy opens London headquarters". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  4. ^ Czikk, Joseph (20 September 2013). "Homejoy Launches in Second Canadian City After Success at Home". Betakit. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  5. ^ Huet, Ellen. "Homejoy Shuts Down, Citing Worker Misclassification Lawsuits". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
  6. ^ a b c "Homejoy". AngelList. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  7. ^ a b Ha, Anthony (5 March 2013). "Home Cleaning Service Pathjoy Becomes Homejoy, Raises $1.7M From Andreessen Horowitz And Others". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  8. ^ Carney, Michael (17 January 2013). "PathJoy brings its economical on-demand maid service to LA and Seattle". PandoDaily. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  9. ^ Naasel, Kenrya Rankin (1 April 2014). "The Homejoy Creation Story: It All Started With A Dirty Bathroom". Fast Company. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  10. ^ Truong, Alice (13 February 2014). "Homejoy, The Startup That Makes All New Hires Scrub Toilets". Fast Company. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  11. ^ Graham, Paul (January 2014). "Female Founders". Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  12. ^ Jordan, Jeff (19 December 2013). "Local Heroes: The Public Companies of Tomorrow". Andreesen Horowitz. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  13. ^ a b Robehmed, Natalie (10 April 2014). "House Cleaning Startup Homejoy Expands To London". Forbes. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  14. ^ Ha, Anthony (5 December 2013). "Homejoy Raises $38M As It Looks To Expand Beyond Home Cleaning". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  15. ^ a b Gannes, Liz (5 December 2013). "Homejoy Raises $38M to Bring $20/Hour Home Cleaning to the Masses". All Things D. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  16. ^ a b Kolodny, Lora (5 December 2013). "Homejoy Raises $38M for House Cleaning On Demand". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  17. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (9 April 2014). "Homejoy Comes To Clean Up The UK, Its First Market Outside North America, For £13/Hour". TechCrunch. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  18. ^ "Homejoy Shuts Down After Battling Worker Classification Lawsuits". Re/code. Vox Media. 17 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  19. ^ "Google Hires Tech Team From Homejoy, Readies Leap Into Home Services Market". Re/code. Vox Media. 17 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  20. ^ "Get Your Place Cleaned". Archived from the original on 26 November 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  21. ^ Ha, Anthony (18 August 2013). "Behind The Scenes At Homejoy, A Cleaning Startup That Says It's Really A Tech Company". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  22. ^ Posterli, Bianca (19 March 2013). "The Uber for Apartment Cleaning". Glam. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  23. ^ Schwartz, Carly (7 May 2013). "Homejoy, Online House Cleaning Service, Aims To Be The 'Uber' Of Its Field". Huffington Post. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  24. ^ Pennington, Maura (26 September 2013). "The Upside Of A Bleak Job Market: Millennials Creating Opportunities". Forbes. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  25. ^ Wohlsen, Marcus (5 December 2013). "Google Pours Millions Into New Tech Gold Rush: Housecleaning". Wired. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  26. ^ Grant, Rebecca (5 December 2013). "Homejoy sweeps up millions of dollars to liberate you from the burden of brooms". VentureBeat. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  27. ^ Grant, Rebecca (27 November 2013). "YC startup Homejoy establishes charitable foundation to help veterans". VentureBeat. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  28. ^ "About Us". Homejoy Foundation. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  29. ^ Larson, Selena (25 January 2014). "Meet 6 Entrepreneurs Who Use Tech To Change The World". ReadWrite. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  30. ^ Farr, Christina (2015-10-26). "Why Homejoy Failed — Backchannel". Wired. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  31. ^ Huet, Ellen. "What Really Killed Homejoy? It Couldn't Hold On To Its Customers". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  32. ^ "Customers of dead house-cleaning startup Homejoy are being funneled to a copycat site - Business Insider". 2015-10-29. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  33. ^ "Homejoy Mysteriously Relaunches As Fly Maids, Customer Confusion Ensues". 2015-10-29. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
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