Demand is urgent and local
When a pipe bursts or power fails, customers do not want an endless directory. They need a suitable person who can respond where they are.
Investor overview · Pre-launch
The trust and coordination layer for local services.
Shortime is building a managed marketplace where Nigerian customers can get verified help, independent professionals can earn through clearer demand, and every job creates an accountable operational record.
Abuja-first launch model
Multi-actor marketplace infrastructure
investor@shortime.io
One operating layer across demand, supply, trust and settlement.
The thesis
A large everyday category still runs on fragmented trust.
The value is not simply listing providers. The defensible work is coordinating a high-friction offline service through identity, availability, matching, communication, payment state, evidence and resolution.
Supply is skilled but fragmented
Independent professionals need qualified demand, clearer work context, reputation and a reliable record of earnings.
Trust must be operational
Verification alone cannot resolve late arrival, changed scope, payment questions or service disputes. Shortime connects those events.
Density improves the product
A city-first model can improve match speed, provider utilisation, field learning and local brand trust before geographic expansion.
The product wedge
Start where need, urgency and repeat behaviour meet.
The Abuja pilot focuses on plumbing, electrical and cleaning. These categories exercise the marketplace’s core trust and coordination machinery without spreading operations across every possible service on day one.
Structured demand
Category, description, photos, location and payment context make each request more actionable than a generic lead.
Availability-led supply
Verified skills, live availability and service area guide time-bound offers and automated rematching.
Managed completion
Arrival, work, payment, review and dispute events stay connected so the marketplace can learn and intervene.
Customer proposition
Speed without surrendering visibility.
The customer journey reduces the search cost of finding help while preserving identity context, communication, progress, payment status and a support path.
- Request in minutes with problem photos and service location
- See the verified provider profile before service begins
- Track job milestones and communicate in the product
- Use protected digital payment where eligible
- Complete, review, receive a receipt or open a dispute
Provider proposition
Turn verified capability into measurable opportunity.
The provider app is not just a lead feed. It supports work acceptance, job execution, service reputation and earnings visibility.
- Skill and identity verification creates differentiated supply
- Location-aware offers reduce irrelevant demand
- Clear job context improves acceptance decisions
- Status and communication tools support completion
- Earnings and payout records make platform value visible
Planned pilot scorecard
Targets built to test the operating model.
These are first-three-month goals from the launch plan. They are not historical performance or achieved traction.
Customers
Planned activated customer base.
Active providers
Verified and available across launch categories.
Completed jobs
Target service-volume signal across the pilot.
Completion
Planned job-completion quality threshold.
Match time
Target from request to accepted provider.
Average rating
Target customer quality signal.
Provider retention
Planned signal that supply sees durable value.
Commission revenue
Initial revenue target, not achieved revenue.
Additional planning assumption: average job value of ₦5,000–₦100,000. Actual mix, take rate, payment behaviour and unit economics must be validated in the pilot.
Business model
Monetise completed value, then layer services carefully.
The launch model aligns initial revenue with successfully completed marketplace activity. Additional revenue lines remain optional until they improve—not distort—service quality.
Core
Completion-based marketplace commission
Shortime earns when a coordinated service completes. The model can align customer acquisition, provider utilisation, support quality and settlement discipline around the same event.
- Transaction-linked platform commission
- Transparent provider earnings and fee records
- Reconciliation anchored to job and payment state
Potential layers
Services that follow validated density
Future monetisation may include provider tools, managed accounts, promotions, subscriptions or embedded services. None should be treated as launched revenue before demand and regulatory fit are proven.
- Provider or agency operating tools
- Business and property-management accounts
- Relevant financial or protection products
The operating moat
Software compounds with real service history.
Every completed or interrupted job can improve supply quality, matching decisions, support playbooks and city-level operations—provided the system preserves structured events rather than losing them in private chats.
- Provider verification, performance and reliability history
- Category- and area-level demand/supply understanding
- Matching, timeout and rematch outcome data
- Dispute patterns and operational resolution playbooks
- Payment, refund, payout and reconciliation discipline
Launch sequence
Density first, geography second.
The plan treats each phase as an evidence gate. Expansion follows operating readiness, not a calendar alone.
- Pre-launch readiness
Recruit and verify an initial Abuja provider base, test operational queues and build an early customer community.
- Controlled Abuja pilot
Operate plumbing, electrical and cleaning with close job monitoring and rapid learning loops.
- Full Abuja coverage
Improve category depth, response time, provider retention, customer repeat use and operational leverage.
- Lagos expansion
Transfer the city playbook only after proving what needs to be centralised and what must stay local.
- National network
Add cities, services and access paths as density, governance and unit economics support them.
Use of capital
Fund the proof points that unlock the next city.
The financing conversation should connect capital to milestones, not vanity. A detailed allocation belongs in the investor data room once round size and instrument are agreed.
Deliberate transparency: Shortime is not publishing a round size, valuation or completed financing on this page because those terms have not been supplied as approved facts.
Product and engineering
Customer/provider apps, backend, staff portal, payments, observability and security.
Supply and city operations
Provider acquisition, verification, training, support and Abuja coverage quality.
Trust, payments and compliance
Disputes, controls, reconciliation, privacy, legal structure and vendor readiness.
Measured demand creation
Local launch partnerships, useful content, customer activation and referral learning.
Diligence lens
Questions serious investors should ask.
We expect scrutiny around category economics, supply quality and operational risk. The right capital partner will help test these honestly.
Frequency and retention
Which categories drive repeat use, and what does a healthy customer/provider cohort look like by city?
Contribution economics
How do acquisition, support, payment costs, refunds and incentives behave at different job values?
Risk and regulation
Which payment-protection structure, identity vendors and operating policies satisfy Nigerian legal and market realities?
Investor conversations
Interested in helping prove the Abuja model?
Email investor@shortime.io with your name, firm or syndicate, stage and cheque focus, relevant portfolio context and the questions you want answered first.