Tell us something about your Company, when was your company founded, your location, and in how many countries are you active:
Helpling is the leading online marketplace for home services, in Europe. On the website, customers can book a vetted and insured cleaner and gain back free time within a couple of clicks. For cleaners, the innovative online service makes it easier than ever to access new clients and to manage when and where they want to work. Helpling was founded by Benedikt Franke and Philip Huffmann, in January 2014, and offers its services throughout 9 countries, in 3 continents.
Your Business
What is your core business?
We make people’s daily lives easier by connecting trusted cleaners with customers who are looking for help with their housework. Through Helpling, you can book a qualified and vetted cleaner within a few minutes. This way, there is now no need to waste time searching through classified ads, going through pricey agencies or asking your friends and ending up with black market recommendations.
For cleaners it has never been so easy to get access to new clients and manage their own microbusiness. For both, cleaners and customer, we provide a 7-day-a-week call centre as well a liability and accident insurance.
How did you get to your business idea and when was your company established?
Whilst the ecommerce has evolved rapidly, starting from books and electronics to paid media and entertainment, location-based services, such as home cleaning, have not been part of this development, until recently. Those who needed a cleaner, had to conduct long enquiries and screenings through listings or word-of-mouth recommendations, often ending up with a cleaner from the black market. So we wanted to bring a solution to this market. With this idea in mind, Philip Huffman and I founded Helpling in January 2014.
Are you using Venture Capital? And if so- who are your Venture Partners?
Yes, Helpling raised 56.5 million Euros from investors such as Mangrove Capital Partners, Lakestar, Point Nine Capital and Rocket Internet.
In which countries are you active? Are you planning to expand your venture in other countries? And if so- where?
We are active in 9 countries throughout Europe, Asia and Oceania. At the moment, our focus is to concentrate on countries in which we are already established, investing in technology and customer experience. For example, recently we migrated to a new technology platform, developed to facilitate long-terms relationship between customers and cleaners. With these new functionalities, we managed to drastically increase our recurring business. In all markets there is still an immense potential for online household services and by investing time and resources we keep continuously growing.
Where do you see the company in 5 years?
Our goal is to be the world’s leading brand for home services: when people are looking for help in their household, they think of Helpling.
Your Team
How many employees work at your company right now? Are you planning to expand?
We have more than 300 employees worldwide. About half of the team is located at our Headquarter in Berlin-Mitte, but we also have local offices in each country we operate in.
What is the average age of your team members ?
The average age is around 30.
What kind of attitude should new employees have to have in order to work at your company?
For us, the most important thing is commitment, team spirit and being able to have fun at work. We want people to feel the ownership of their projects and to understand that our success comes from the communication and collaboration with all parts. We especially want people to enjoy their work. If not, we encourage them to find a way to change things – we are very open to new ideas and new ways to do old things!
Why is it fun to work at your company? Do you offer any employee benefits?
Besides our traditional kicker and table tennis matches, our Friday beer and our parties, we also have a very open corporate culture. That means a flat hierarchy and possibilities to change things through your own ideas. Besides this, we are not only shaping an industry/market (with very little transparency), we are also creating added value for both sides: cleaners and customers! I believe that everyone who works at Helpling can see and feel that we are working on something big. We are still at the very beginning of a long journey …
Do you have a job board? What is the web-link?
Sure, you can find all open positions at our career site
Your Office
How big is your Office/Production Site?
We have two offices and together they have approximately 2.200 qm.
Did you get help from an interior designer by designing the office? And if who did you work together with?
Yes, we work together with the interior designer Sabine Oster.
Thank you Helpling for this interview and the photoshooting!
The pictures were taken in October 2014, the interview is from July 2016
Location: Berlin, Germany Website: www.helpling.com Photos: copyright by Andreas Lukoschek
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