MrUsta

Dubai-based marketplace that connects UAE residents with independent service providers through a website and apps. It raised AED 1.3 million in 2015 and AED 2.75 million in 2016.

Industry: Home services marketplace | Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Founded: 2013 | Total Funding: USD 1.1M

About MrUsta

mrUsta is an online marketplace based in Dubai that connects customers in the United Arab Emirates with independent service providers, called ustas, through a website and iOS and Android apps. Wamda reported in November 2016 that the platform covered about 300 service categories, from dog walking to car repair, and that providers paid a fee to contact customers.

Ibrahim Colak started developing the platform in the summer of 2013 and it launched in January 2014, according to Wamda. Colak is its founder and chief executive, and his wife Dunia Othman is a co-founder who served as chief marketing officer. Wamda's February 2015 profile also named Onur Tepeli as chief technology officer and Serhan Yacizi as chief financial officer. Startup Grind Dubai described Colak as having spent 15 years in corporate roles at Vestel, Nokia and Microsoft before founding the company.

In August 2015, mrUsta closed a seed round of about USD 351,000, equal to AED 1.3 million, from Amjad Ahmad, a former chief executive of NBK Capital Partners. At that time the platform had about 4,000 service providers and 10,000 active users. The company was part of the Afkar accelerator, and had planned a charge of 2 to 3 dirhams per customer call to providers.

In November 2016 mrUsta announced a pre-Series A round of AED 2.75 million, about USD 750,000, from Precinct Partners, Millennial Partners and Co, and angel investors from Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Wamda reported that the platform then had more than 6,000 active service providers and about 10,000 customers a month, and that it operated only in the UAE while planning an Arabic site and expansion to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. The company said it targeted a Series A in 2017.

No later funding, leadership change or operating update was found in the sources that could be opened, and the company website returned a service error when requested.

Leadership