Film highlights the transformation of India’s gray-collar economy as millions transition from informal to organized employment
India, September 17, 2025: Accel, the first institutional investor in Urban Company, has released a short film titled Work, In Progress to commemorate the home services platform’s historic IPO. The film captures the rise of India’s gray-collar economy, spotlighting stories of resilience and transformation from workers long excluded from traditional economic recognition.
While India celebrates Urban Company’s oversubscribed public debut, Accel’s film draws attention to the deeper narrative behind the numbers: the steady migration of India’s vast informal workforce into structured employment with dignity, security, and opportunity.
Work, In Progress features poignant reflections from workers whose families once labored in cotton mills, silk factories, and cramped urban chawls. It traces their journey from generational informality to new pathways enabled by skilling, professionalism, and platforms like Urban Company. From migrant workers rebuilding their lives as beauty professionals to technicians and service providers accessing predictable incomes and financial systems, the stories mirror India’s evolving service economy.
In just over a decade, Urban Company has not only reshaped how India consumes home services but also redefined the perception of frontline work—offering training, consistent earnings, and a bridge from informal survival to formal prosperity.
> “For Accel, Urban Company’s IPO represents more than a financial milestone. It validates our decade-long belief that India’s economic rise is powered by the everyday resilience of its service workers as much as its entrepreneurs,” said an Accel spokesperson.
Created entirely by Accel’s in-house film studio, Work, In Progress underscores the firm’s commitment to telling authentic stories of India’s economic transformation.
About Accel
Accel is a global venture capital firm and the first partner to exceptional teams worldwide, from inception through all phases of growth. Over the past 40+ years, Accel has backed iconic companies including Atlassian, Bumble, CrowdStrike, Fiverr, Flipkart, Freshworks, Qualtrics, Scale, Segment, Slack, Spotify, Squarespace, Tenable, and UiPath.
Link to the film:
