Urban Company’s transformation from the services-first to a product-services mix is more or less complete.

Just as the Gurugram-based company is getting ready to list on the public bourses, it is also undergoing a massive shift.

The turn began in 2023 when after a decade of being a services company, Urban Company ventured into consumer durables with its Native line of water purifiers and smart door locks. This proved to be a precursor to the company’s growing focus on creating its own products — not just to sell to consumers but also to offer its professionals.

Next on the cards, as per sources close to the company, is its own line of air conditioners or ACs. While officially, Urban Company did not comment on whether it is indeed launching an AC, our sources indicate the maiden product will be ready by December this year or early next year. This would coincide with the company’s listing plans, and the new ACs are likely to be available in the market before summer 2026.

“This might just be the beginning. I wouldn’t be shocked if they launch more products in the coming months including other home appliances,” said an industry insider who follows the company closely, without disclosing the name.

Other sources indicated that the final call on the launch of ACs is yet to be taken and the company is playing things cautiously, not least due to a pending litigation over its existing water purifier products.

We can trace Urban Company’s plans to expand into ACs to the changes in its AC servicing and repairs model. For instance, service professionals have been provided with Urban Company-branded equipment to check AC status and monitor issues in AC functionality.

This twin-pronged product strategy indicates a clear shift in the key vertical for Urban Company. As per service professionals, the company’s utilisation of AC repairpersons takes a hit outside of the summer months.

To make up for this, it is bringing in its own ACs, which will be installed by the same repairpersons who are currently listed on Urban Company’s platform for AC repairs.

Does this mean the Urban Company that eventually lists will be completely different from the one that we knew till last year?

The First Signs Of The Shift

Founded in 2014 by Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra, Urban Company began as a full-stack online marketplace connecting service professionals with individuals.

Since 2023, Urban Company has been in the news for its Native line of products. Its water purifiers have been well-received in the market, though customers do complain about the premium pricing of the products.

Defending the pricing, Urban Company had claimed at the time of the launch that it would be creating a water purifier that would require minimal servicing. It also said that its history of servicing water purifiers and the data collected about the most typical and common issues helped it create a product that would not require any service or maintenance for the first two years.

Two years later, a similar strategy seems to have been applied for ACs. In fact, in its IPO papers Urban Company has claimed. “We regularly make investments in new product and........

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