The quick home services platform recorded an adjusted EBITDA loss of Rs 346 per order in Q1 FY27, an improvement from Rs 447 the previous quarter. But because InstaHelp fulfilled far more orders in the process, its total adjusted EBITDA loss actually grew to Rs 132 crore from Rs 119 crore. Orders jumped 43% quarter-on-quarter to 3.82 million from 2.67 million, and revenue climbed to Rs 11.22 crore from Rs 9 crore, while net transaction value rose 32% to Rs 52.9 crore.
Look closer at the per-order numbers and a pricing squeeze becomes obvious. Average order value slipped to Rs 138 from Rs 150, and revenue per order dropped to roughly Rs 29.4 from Rs 33.3, both signs of a company discounting harder to keep growing. Urban Company was candid about the tradeoff in its shareholder letter, stating plainly that in this phase of category development, the company is prioritising market leadership over everything else, including profitability.
That leadership fight is genuinely crowded. According to Moneycontrol, rival Snabbit clocked 1.51 million orders in June alone, edging past InstaHelp's roughly 1.5 million for the month, while newer entrant Pronto trailed at around 0.95 million. Urban Company itself has warned that current pricing across the category is unsustainable and that any eventual normalisation could trigger a one-time hit to demand.
Since launching in March 2025, InstaHelp has scaled quickly, growing net transaction value from Rs 27.6 crore in Q3 FY26 to more than Rs 52 crore just two quarters later. Whether that growth eventually settles into healthier unit economics, or simply gets more expensive to sustain, looks like the real question the next few quarters will answer.
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