Anjali Sardana Pronto: 23-Year-Old Builds $100M Startup in a Year

Key Takeaways

• Anjali Sardana’s Pronto startup grew from 170 daily bookings to over 18,000 in under 12 months
• Pronto raised $25 million at a $100 million valuation, backed by Epiq Capital, General Catalyst, and Bain Capital Ventures
• The platform’s shift-based model and 70% worker retention rate set it apart in India’s competitive home services market

Anjali Sardana and her startup Pronto are making headlines across India’s tech ecosystem – and for good reason. In less than 12 months, this 23-year-old Georgetown University graduate turned a single hub in Gurugram into a $100 million home services platform. With 18,000 daily bookings and $25 million in fresh funding, Pronto’s story is the kind that makes every aspiring Indian founder sit up straight.

How Did Anjali Sardana Come Up With the Idea for Pronto?

Sardana traces the idea for Pronto back to her college research on India’s labour markets. She studied how the country’s vast informal workforce is organised and where inefficiencies prevent workers and households from finding each other reliably.

The answer was staring her in the face. Millions of urban households across Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru struggle every single morning when domestic help doesn’t show up. Enter Pronto – a startup that promises household assistance in as little as 10 minutes, turning what was once a chaotic, unreliable process into something as easy as ordering food online.

Sardana launched the startup in April 2025, shortly after graduating from Georgetown University with a degree in biology. Before starting Pronto, she worked in investment roles at firms including Bain Capital and 8VC. That mix of academic curiosity and institutional finance experience gave her a rare edge as a first-time founder.

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From 170 Bookings to 18,000 – Pronto’s Jaw-Dropping Growth Numbers

Nine months ago, things looked very different at Pronto.

Sardana recalled that the team had just one hub in Sector 56, Gurgaon, and were sleeping on the office floor to ensure customers who had made bookings received reliable service. They were doing about 170 bookings per day.

Fast forward to March 2026, and the platform has crossed 18,000 bookings daily – a jump of over 100x. The company logged around 340,000 orders in February alone and is now live in more than 10 cities, including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai.

Nearly half of demand comes from the Delhi-NCR region, with Bengaluru and Mumbai each contributing about 20%, while other cities are steadily growing. That kind of geographic spread, built in under a year, is almost unheard of in India’s competitive home services space.

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What Makes Pronto Different From Other Home Services Apps?

The home services market in India is not new. Urban Company has operated here for years. But Sardana spotted something others missed – the shift-based model.

Unlike many platforms that operate as simple marketplaces, Pronto uses a managed workforce model. Professionals are recruited, trained, and scheduled in shifts, ensuring both reliability for customers and predictable earnings for workers.

Sardana explained that the shift-based system helps provide professionals with more predictable earnings and work schedules, and that their three-month retention rate for professionals is over 70%. That number matters. In a sector where worker churn is a chronic problem, 70% retention is a strong competitive signal.

Training Like a Startup, Running Like a Logistics Company

Quality is treated as non-negotiable at Pronto. Each professional undergoes a four-day in-person training programme, rigorous screening, and background checks before being placed with customers. Sardana has said internally the team treats quality incidents the way the aviation industry treats plane crashes – not like car accidents.

The professionals at Pronto are predominantly women. A big part of what Sardana cares about is creating a pathway to the middle class for them, according to Ajay Agarwal, partner at Bain Capital. That mission-driven angle is also proving to be a retention tool for both workers and investors.

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The $25 Million Funding Round That Put Pronto on the Map

Pronto’s latest funding round brought in $25 million led by Epiq Capital, with existing backers Glade Brook Capital Partners, General Catalyst, and Bain Capital Ventures reaffirming their confidence by participating again. The round pushed the company’s valuation to around $100 million – all in less than 12 months from launch.

The raise underscores rising demand for services such as cooking and cleaning from India’s rapidly expanding middle class. As Startup INDIAX has reported, the instant home services category is quickly becoming the next battleground after quick commerce, and investors are paying close attention.

Ownership remains firmly in Sardana’s hands, with her retaining a 40% stake in the company. Among external shareholders, Glade Brook holds the largest slice at around 15%. That founder-friendly cap table is a signal of just how much early confidence investors placed in her vision.

Investors in the segment compare Sardana’s aggressive approach to that of Zepto’s Aadit Palicha, who slugged it out with Zomato’s Blinkit and Swiggy’s Instamart in a highly competitive industry. High praise in a startup ecosystem that loves a good David-vs-Goliath story.

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Netizens React

The Pronto story has gone viral across social media, drawing reactions from founders, investors, and everyday users alike.

One user on X wrote, “Sleeping on the office floor at 22 and raising $25M at 23 – Anjali Sardana is the kind of founder story India needs more of right now.”

Another commenter noted, “The 10-minute home services model is brilliant – but let’s see if it survives the unit economics test. Urban Company took years to crack profitability.”

A third user added, “What I love about Pronto is the focus on women professionals and structured pay. This is what formalising India’s gig economy actually looks like.”

What’s Next for Pronto and Anjali Sardana?

Sardana has said the latest funding round is not a finish line but a checkpoint, acknowledging that the challenges of sustaining growth, expanding into new markets, and building trust with millions of households still lie ahead.

The instant home services category is heating up fast. With Urban Company already dominant in 51+ cities and players like Snabbit in the mix, Pronto will need to keep its operational edge sharp. But if the last 12 months are any indication, Sardana is not the type to slow down.

What do you think about Anjali Sardana’s Pronto story? Is this the next big wave in India’s startup ecosystem? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and explore more inspiring Indian founder stories on Startup INDIAX!

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