The cleaning service Book a Tiger is getting smaller and smaller, while its competitor Helpling is getting bigger and bigger: Helpling is taking over the Swiss offshoot of its competitor. After the sale, Book a Tiger only operates in Germany and focuses on B2B.
Tamedia and Helpling launch the “Helpling marketplace” in Switzerland — as a joint venture with a joint share in the platform of 50 percent each. Helpling is taking over the Swiss business of Book A Tiger, which is now only active in Germany. Helpling provides insured cleaners who can be selected and also rated via app or website. Clients and cleaners communicate via Helpling, and payment is also made via the platform.
Online cleaning portals like Rocket Internet’s Helpling, Book a Tiger or Clean Agents aggressively rolled up the market a few years ago, relying on broad advertising campaigns and outdoing each other with discount prices. As sensible as the online placement of cleaning staff once seemed — the corresponding start-ups had a hard time, struggling with accusations such as starvation wages and quality problems. Consolidations set in. The U.S. role model Homejoy already went bankrupt in 2015. Book A Tiger was one of the worst off. — Book A Tiger once offered “private residential cleaning and customized cleaning services for business clients by professional cleaners.” The company recently announced plans to scale back its consumer business.
Helpling, founded in 2014, most recently operated in Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The young company has already been profitable in most markets. Germany, with a very strong focus on Berlin, continues to be the most important market for the company, which was founded by Benedikt Franke and Philip Huffmann. Accordingly, co-founder Franke still sees “a great deal of growth potential” for his cleaning services in this country as well.