Helpling (former names: Hassle.com and Teddle) is a Vauxhall,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based online booking and payment platform that connects customers with pre-vetted local cleaners. In July 2015, the on-demand cleaning marketplace Helpling bought Hassle.com. In June 2014, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' listed Hassle.com as one of the top ten disruptive digital startups.

History

Alex Depledge,

Jules Coleman Jules Leslie Coleman (born 1947) is a scholar of law and jurisprudence. He was the Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld Professor of Jurisprudence and Professor of Philosophy at Yale Law School until 2012. Jules currently is chief academic officer aMYX a new, ...

, and Tom Nimmo co-founded the company in March 2012. Teddle launched in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an impor ...

in late 2012 with the aid of Techstars London (then known as Springboard), and various

Angel Investors An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or owners ...

, before rebranding to Hassle and relocating to

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

in 2013. The founders settled on the name Hassle for the company because they wanted to remove the hassle from people's lives so they could spend more time doing 'the things they love'. Hassle.com originally covered 27 service providers, such as personal trainers and driving instructors, before narrowing their focus to house cleaning at the end of 2012. Founder of

Hailo Hailo was a British technology platform that matched taxi drivers and passengers through its mobile phone application. Founded in London in 2011, the Hailo taxi service was available in 16 cities (as of December 2013). By May 2013, Hailo had en ...

, Ron Zeghibe joined Hassle.com as non-executive chairman in April 2013. In 2014, Hassle.com received $6M in series A funding from

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

-backer Accel Partners. With the help of this new funding, Hassle.com has since expanded their services into Europe In October 2018, Helpling received a “seven-figure” investment from Swiss media group Tamedia. In July 2015, Helpling acquired Hassle.com and in October 2018, Helpling, acquired the Swiss business of Book A Tiger, a German competitor.

Product

Helpling is an online marketplace which matches working professionals with local pre-vetted home cleaners. Using their postcode, customers can search through local cleaner profiles to find the person who best suits their needs. The cleaners charge a flat rate of £10 per hour and pay a fee when they find a regular customer through the platform or 10% of the value of the booking for one time cleans.

Awards and recognition

* Named Start-Up of the Year at Tech City News Elevator Awards in 2013

References

{{reflist, 2 Online marketplaces of the United Kingdom Companies based in the London Borough of Lambeth Business services companies established in 2012 2012 establishments in the United Kingdom