Urban Company launches Native M3 water purifiers, says smart home business has only scratched the surface with 4 lakh homes reached

Urban Company today believes that consumers are willing to pay more upfront for products that cost less to own over time, as its smart home products business, Native, moves closer to profitability and prepares for its next phase of growth.

The company today has expanded its Native portfolio with the launch of the M3 and M3 Pro water purifiers, priced from ₹22,000, as it sharpened its focus on premium appliances that promise lower maintenance costs. The products are available through the Urban Company app and website.

The launch comes at a time when Native is emerging as one of Urban Company's fastest growing businesses. In FY26, the business recorded revenue from operations of ₹267 crore, up 130% year on year, while net transaction value (NTV) rose 122% to ₹345 crore. In the first nine months of FY26, Native's NTV grew 51% to ₹119 crore and net revenue increased 60% to ₹95 crore. Adjusted EBITDA loss also narrowed to 7.3% of NTV from 11.4% a year earlier.

"At Urban Company, we think of ourselves as a consumer platform and we want to solve the biggest problems in the lives of the urban Indian household," chief operating officer Varun Khaitan told Fortune India, explaining the rationale behind entering consumer products after years of servicing millions of home appliances.

He said the company identified a gap between what consumers expected from appliances and what the market offered, particularly in water purifiers. Frequent filter replacements became the biggest pain point, prompting Urban Company to build products with significantly longer filter life.

"The main problem that we set out to solve is fast and frequent filter change. We think that's a big pain point," Khaitan said. The new M3 Pro extends filter life to three years while offering real-time information on water quality and machine performance through a built in display.

A measured expansion strategy

Urban Company is also strengthening its smart lock portfolio with the upgraded Native Lock Ultra, which integrates face unlock, a built-in camera, video calling and remote access into a single device. "We do think the market will grow and over the next five to ten years, many homes in India will have smart locks," said Khaitan.

According to him, the company is intentionally keeping its product portfolio focused.

"Right now, we focus on these two. We do think we are early in building these products and we do have the ambition of looking beyond," he said.

Co-founder, Abhiraj Singh Bhal during the company's earnings call, said Native has shown "exceptionally well" in both growth and margin improvement, with profitability now within sight over the next few quarters. Bhal added that Urban Company expects only limited additional capital before Native starts generating cash and intends to stay focused on water purifiers and smart door locks, with at most one more category over the next five years.

"If at all we have to venture into another category over the next five years, maybe we will enter one more category. But that's about it. We don't want to proliferate too much. We think there is a lot of work to be done in water purifiers and smart door locks," said Bhal.

The company also sees recurring filter replacements emerging as a meaningful revenue stream. As the earliest water purifier customers complete their first replacement cycle, around 75% are renewing filters through Urban Company, creating a higher margin recurring business.

While the new Native M3 carries a roughly 13-18% premium over the previous flagship M2 Pro, Bhal justified the higher upfront price, saying, "It's a premium product, but if you look at the lifecycle ownership cost that actually is much lower. The cost of ownership comes down, and more importantly, the headache comes down."

Khaitan said the opportunity remains substantial. Native water purifiers are already installed in more than four lakh homes, but he estimates there are 30 million to 40 million homes in India with water purifiers, leaving significant headroom for growth.

Rather than targeting competitors and disrupting existing players, Urban Company is focused on convincing consumers to upgrade. "We are not focused on competition. We are focused on building the best products and experiences for our customers," Khaitan said, adding that many users are replacing existing water purifiers and conventional door locks with Native products.

Beyond products, Urban Company says its services business continues to support earnings growth for workers. According to its 9M FY26 Earnings Index, average monthly in hand earnings for active service professionals, excluding InstaHelp, reached ₹28,322, while the top 5% earned ₹51,673.

Meanwhile, the company said InstaHelp will remain its primary investment area over the next two years even as Native moves closer to becoming self-sustaining.