Recommend Group raises US$4mil led by Morning Crest Capital

• Shanghai-based VC Morning Crest Capital led this oversubscribed round
• Funds will be used to expand quickly into tier 2 & 3 cities in Indonesia & Malaysia

[Ed: The team pic of the founders in an earlier version has been replaced as they were pictured wearing the old company brand name.]

Recommend Group, a Malaysian/Indonesian based regional local services startup with its holding company in Singapore, has announced a successful Series A fund-raise of US$4 million (RM16.5 million). 

[Ed: Para edited for accuracy.]

Shanghai-based venture capital (VC) firm, Morning Crest Capital, led this oversubscribed round and was joined by existing investors, including Singapore-based VC firm BTFV, Recommend said in a statement.

The lead investor, MCC, was also a key investor in AirTasker, an Australian local services platform listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. “We have seen how these platforms can be scaled across many different types of services and even across geographies, and we have confidence in the Recommend team to accelerate the digitalisation of home services across Southeast Asia, which represents an enormous market opportunity. We continue to be bullish on the digitalisation of local services globally in the next 5-10 years,” says Fred (Xiaofan) Bai, Managing Partner, MCC.

“We were particularly impressed with the passion and drive of the Recommend leadership team,” says Goh Seng Wee, Managing Director, BTFV. "The pandemic was an especially challenging period for the home services industry, and the fact that they just kept growing and scaling is a testament to the innovativeness, resilience and commitment of the team."

Recommend said the funds raised will be used to expand its teams in Indonesia and Malaysia, with a focus on product and engineering, improve user experiences on its customer and vendor mobile apps and its website It will also be used to build new features that will empower service workers to manage and grow their businesses. In addition, the company is looking to expand quickly into tier two and three cities in Indonesia and Malaysia.

“There has been a significant growth in demand for professional home services over the past few years, especially during the pandemic where volume in some categories grew by three times,” said Jes Min Lua, cofounder and chief executive officer of Recommend Group.

“Through the pandemic we have been searching for and on-boarding top quality service professionals, training them on our quality standards and SOPs and incentivising them to get vaccinated. We wanted to keep our average rating at least 4.6 stars out of 5,” she added. 

Known as Recommend.my in Malaysia, the platform provides a convenient and safe way for customers to hire recommended service professionals for their homes, the company said.

When a customer books a service or requests for a quote, the company claimed its algorithm searches for the right service professional based on reviews and ratings, expertise, location and availability, thus providing the best option for the customer. 

To date, over 200 services are available across 10 verticals, including home maintenance, appliance servicing and repairs, home improvement, cleaning and disinfecting, and lifestyle and beauty services, it claimed.

Customers can choose to directly book a home maintenance service, or get multiple quotations from several service professionals for home improvement and renovations services. Alternatively, they can browse through top-rated service professionals for each area and call, WhatsApp or invite them to quote for their project.

Recommend.my also powers the home service offerings within popular apps like Boost e-wallet, consumer brands like IKEA, and community apps like Mah Sing MConcierge, it said.

“We want customers to be able to access our base of verified, high-quality service professionals no matter what app they hold in their hand” said Alex Tan, cofounder of Recommend.my. 

With home services being a largely unregulated industry, the company claimed its platform has vetted over 10,000 companies and independent service professionals in Malaysia.

It does so by working with them to standardise service scope and prices, improve service quality, enable cashless payments, and provide strong service warranties and insurance protection, it said.

The group is also planning to partner with training providers and government agencies to grow the pool of skilled service workers and boost the local economy.