Looking for a fitness instructor, plumber, or hairdresser? Need an appointment with a doctor or want to hire a performer? You will probably find the professional or small business you need using one of the eight service marketplaces of Eruditor, a startup that claims to have served 300,000 users since its launch in 2007.
“Eruditor’s vertical platforms – some of which are more advanced than their US analogs – are tapping into markets which can represent billions of dollars in Russia alone,” Intel Capital Russia Director Maxim Krasnykh said in an exchange with East-West Digital News.
The fund has just led a Series A round of $4 million with the participation of Runa Capital, a Moscow based international venture fund, in exchange for a minority stake in the Moscow-based startup.
In 2010, three years after its inception, Eruditor had raised an initial $600,000 from serial angel investor Igor Ryabenki.
Among Eruditor’s strengths is its robust and flexible IT platform, which supports the eight existing portals. “And we can launch a new vertical in just two weeks,” the startup’s co-founder and CEO Egor Rudi told EWDN. “Synergies have also been built in several other aspects of the business, from accounting to marketing to the call center.”
Still relying on human labor
However, the process of selecting providers still relies, to a large extent, on human labor, and the majority of transactions demand human intervention, Rudi explains. “Our call center comprises 200 persons. Such costs wouldn’t be sustainable in certain countries. The funds we’ve raised will help us automate these processes, at least in part.”
The young CEO claims that his company is number one in all the segments it covers currently. In most cases, Eruditor benefits from first mover advantage combined with its five years of experience.
“In certain segments, such as beauty professionals or sports trainers, we’re practically alone; but in others, like medical appointments, startups have sprung up like mushrooms,” notes Rudi. “They all try to copy ZocDoc [the US startup which raised $50 million last year]. Some of them do not have the means, or the skills, to provide good service, which can create a reputational issue for the whole market.”
Eruditor’s Infodoctor.ru launched one year ago as a pioneer – with a business model based on transaction fees that differs from ZocDoc’s subscription fee system.
But a serious competitor to Eruditor has emerged in the field of dentist appointments: Timetovisit.ru, a startup that launched last month with $5 million in funding.
After strengthening its product, Eruditor plans to launch new verticals in Russia and is considering expansion in emerging markets, in particuly the former Soviet republics, Brazil, India, and China.
