Homejoy — On-Demand House Cleaning

Homejoy raised $40 million to become the Uber of house cleaning, but its $19 introductory cleanings cost $50 to fulfill, bleeding $31 per job. Customer retention was minimal once promotions ended, and worker misclassification lawsuits piled up, ultimately forcing the company to shutter. The data point is stark: a 62% loss on each cleaner visit made the model unsustainable. This failure is slower than the average startup collapse, as Homejoy lasted two years before closing, but its unit economics were worse than #5 Color's pre-launch spending; at least Color had no operational costs.