Imandi

About Imandi

Imandi.com was a reverse auction marketplace that connected consumers with local service merchants. Founded in 1999 by former Microsoft employees Raghav Kher and Eric Johnson, the company was established to simplify the process of finding and hiring local services. The idea originated from Kher's frustrating personal experience of trying to find a painter for his house. The name "Imandi" is derived from the Hindi word "mandi," which means bazaar or marketplace.

The platform operated on a reverse marketplace model, where consumers would post a request for a specific service, such as house painting or plumbing. Merchants would then submit bids for the job, allowing the consumer to choose the best offer based on price and a user-feedback rating system similar to eBay's. The service was initially free for both consumers and merchants, with a plan to generate revenue through referral and subscription fees from merchants in the future. At its launch, Imandi.com offered 25 services and aimed to cover 87% of the nation's ZIP codes, with plans to expand significantly. The Redmond-based company secured $15 million in its first round of venture capital financing in October 1999 and grew to 50 employees, with an additional 20 contractors in India.

After his time at Imandi, co-founder Raghav Kher went on to start other ventures, including IT automation company Rendition Networks and beer and wine social commerce site LetsPour. An Indian entity, Imandi.com Private Limited, was incorporated in October 2000 and is now listed as strike-off. Another, more recent entity named IFFCO iMandi was launched as a joint venture with a Singaporean firm to provide an e-commerce platform for farmers in India, but this appears to be a separate company using a similar name.