Lisbon, Sept. 1, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese cleaning and repair services startup, OSCAR, posted revenues of around €10.5 million in the first half of 2025, which represents growth of 157% compared to the same period in 2024.
The company, which began its first tests in 2021, now operates in 60 cities, including Portugal (40), Spain (19) and the United Kingdom (1). In all three markets, OSCAR's mobile app has 800,000 users.
The company currently has 50 employees and a network of more than 60,000 registered service providers.
In an interview with Lusa on Monday, OSCAR's CEO, João Marques, revealed a new business model, by subscription, which aims to increase the frequency with which users request services, particularly cleaning services.
"Repair services, on average, are a service that people request a maximum of three, crazy four times a year," he said.
OSCAR is now betting on a new service, subscription cleaning, making it possible to hire a domestic cleaner through the app.
"We have a lot of customers who have a cleaner and who call Oscar from time to time to clean other things that their cleaner can't clean," said the CEO.
"The subscription is our attempt to have customers call for Oscar every month and have their relationship with the cleaner inside Oscar," he added.
The service was launched on 15 August and according to João Marques it is getting "unbelievable traction" in Portugal, the only market where the service is available.
The CEO decided to test the new service in Portugal because he believes it is a "sophisticated and advanced market" where "people are used to paying by debit card".
"It's a small market, it's a very educated market, people are used to ordering services online [...] and the cost of acquisition is very low, so for us it's very important," he added.
A new round of investment is also on the horizon, totalling between €20 and €30 million, which will accelerate OSCAR's ambition to become a European unicorn by 2028.
When asked about a possible dispersal on the stock market, João Marques didn't rule out the possibility, but considered that it was too early to talk about it. However, he argued that it is possible and pointed to 2027 as a good time to return to the subject.
With regard to new markets, the founder of OSCAR says that the idea has always been "to go to more countries in Europe", but he has his sights set on the North American market.
João Marques didn't give a specific date for expansion, but he emphasised that the US market is similar to the UK.
"The truth is that the UK is the market in Europe most similar to the US," he said. In the short term, the plan is to extend OSCAR to three more cities in the UK.
The company is also working on developing a website as a way of attracting more customers, reducing friction by not having to install an app on their smartphone and allowing them to request a service via their computer.
Founded in 2020 in Lisbon, OSCAR is a digital platform that connects customers to technicians specialising in more than 200 home services, with a fixed price model.
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Lusa
