Headquarters Sydney, Australia Website www.hipages.com.au Founder David Vitek | Employees 200 Alexa rank 15,844 (Australia) Founded 2004 | |
Industry Online directory services Products Home Improvement Pages, Natural Therapy Pages, Pet Pages | ||
hipages is an Australian company that provides online service directories and lead generation in various industries such as the home improvement and tradesmen sector, pet services, and natural therapies.
Contents
hipages facilitates an online connection between consumers and professionals in designated fields of service.
History
hipages was founded in 2004 by David Vitek and Robert Sharon-Zipser. Prior to being the Chief executive officer of hipages Group, Vitek worked as an engineer at IBM. The initial focus of the company was on natural therapies until the co-founders realised the potential their services had in the home improvement sector.
The company originally designed the directory service websites on a subscription-based model, in which businesses paid to be listed on the site.
hipages entered into a partnership with IKEA in 2013 to assist consumers in locating tradesmen to install their kitchen benches and cabinets.
By 2014, the user base consisted of over 500,000 users and around one million visitors to the website each month.
In May 2014, hipages received $6 million in funding from various investors such as Ellerston Capital, Australian Ethical Investment, and KTM Capital. Right Click Capital, a technology-focused advisory firm, managed the capital raising. In 2015, hipages transferred most of its IT systems to Amazon Web Services, Amazon's public cloud.
In June 2015, the group raised an additional $6 million in funding from existing investors, along with Kestrel Capital.
Services
Instead of generating service commissions, hipages generates revenue from member fees. The company offers three different websites that use algorithms to match consumers with businesses and professionals based on the trade category, location, feedback, and other relevant information.
Home Improvement Pages
The name "hipages" stems from the abbreviation of the Home Improvement Pages.
hipages offers directory services that connect consumers to registered tradesmen from 1,100 categories for tasks such as painting, tiling, and other home repairs or renovations.
hipages uploads approximately 80,000 job posts from customers per month to its home improvement page which has a user base of over 500,000 consumer members. In May 2015, hipages reported $1.35 billion in job value on its platform over a 12-month period.
Pet Pages
The Pet Pages website is a directory service that allows consumers to search and find local pet services and businesses like breeders or veterinarian offices. The directory also assists in finding other pet oriented things such as pet stores, accessories, and training.
Natural Therapy Pages
Initially, the Natural Therapy Pages was the first website developed by Vitek in 2004. The idea came from Vitek's interest in health and the desire to start his own business. The Natural Therapy Pages website features relevant health, nutrition and naturopathy articles along with a directory linking users to treatment facilities, doctors and practitioners, and other natural therapy services.
Recognition
The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Australia program ranked hipages Group (named Viteknologies at the time) 6th for the fastest growing Australian companies in 2008.
In 2011, BRW ranked Viteknologies, now hipages Group, as 28th on their list of the Best Places to Work in Australia. hipages was ranked 21st on BRW's list of Most Innovative Companies of 2013.
hipages was listed in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Australia for the second consecutive year in November 2014.