The Eelp! startup has a new CEO: Àlex Díaz, news that puts the application for managing services between users and companies on course for consolidation. With the announcement we also found out that the company is about to close its second round of investment, an extension of capital that will allow them to the move into Madrid next year and get closer access to the European market, as Díaz explains in an interview with VIA Empresa.
The project, which began only four months ago under business angel Carlos Blanco and Nina Alstruey -who left the team under mutual agreement along with major shareholder, Nuclio Venture Bilder, for "confidential reasons"- already has almost 300 users and has carried out 1,500 services. Its aim is to help people save time and instead of having different apps on their mobiles to manage each thing, "you have only one so that you do not worry about what you need, that you have it quickly and without having to worry about coordinating everything," says the CEO.
Avoiding headaches
The demands can go from delivering a package or needing a car to take you somewhere, to finding someone to pick up the kids from school. There is a whole range of services available thanks to the agreements they have with their partners. "An example is Glovo, which is one of our verticals," he says, "but if someone asks for a private jet to go to London today and we do not have a partner, we look for a company that can offer the service." A follow-up of the service is carried out and if everything turns out well it is included in the database as a new partner to work with.
"If someone ask for a private jet to go to London to today, we look for a company to offer the service"
The users can choose to pay for each service or pay a monthly fee. Each payment goes from 1.49 euros to 4.50 euros according to "the type of service, whether the operational time behind it is high or low and the added value," points out Díaz. For premium users the price starts at 29 euros and can go up to almost 80, also depending on the needs of each person.
The main difference between these two targets is in how each uses Eelp!. As the CEO says, "those who pay per service ask for things with little added value, such as restaurants or entrance tickets, while the higher profile is looking to save time and solve problems." In the case of some of these latter users the bill has been as a high as 5,000 euros in a month.
Attacking the B2B segment
One of Díaz’s first proposals on joining the team has been to work directly with companies to offer them services. This is a new area called Eelp! my business, with fixed fees and timetables, such as weekdays from 8am to 8pm, the classic working day.
The new CEO Alex Díaz and Carlos Blanco, founder of Eelp!
The idea is to help companies have their employees 100% and without any worries. "If they have to take the car for its service, hand in official paperwork or take the kids somewhere, we do it. The company pays a fee and that means the employees do not have to waste their time," he says.
"The company pays a fee and it means the employees do not have to waste time"
All of this is also possible thanks to the improvement in software they have implemented. Until now, the whole process of receiving user requests, looking for a supplier and coordinating everything was done manually. However, it will now be done automatically, reducing the management time from 25 minutes to just six.
Thinking about growth
The team hopes to close the new round of investment for a value of 500,000 euros in a maximum of three months. "Or maybe three weeks," adds Díaz, who insists that the process will be very quick. Despite not wishing to give details of the operation until everything is closed, he says that there are "powerful people and fairly large partners" with profiles similar to that of the former CEO of Acciona Facility Services, Marc Costa, who has just joined the startup as its chairman.
Even though they have still not made the move into Madrid, it is planned for this summer, and the team of 12 people is already thinking about a third city: "A European capital." Díaz mentions Paris, London or Berlin as possible places, but points out that it is an idea they still have to develop.
Whatever the case, the CEO is convinced of the app’s potential. Their competition are the service companies that already exist, which operate in specialised verticals, meaning that they only see Facility Services in the United Kingdom and Magic in the United States as direct competition offering general services like they do.