A Kelowna startup is taking a distinctly hands-on approach to building a local services marketplace—starting not with users, but with supply.
bibidi, founded in the Okanagan, is developing a platform that connects residents with nearby service providers, including cleaners, dog walkers, movers, handypeople, and aestheticians. The goal is to bring a fragmented, largely word-of-mouth market into a single place where users can search, book, pay, and review services.
The idea emerged during early customer validation, when the team repeatedly encountered the same problem: people struggle to find reliable local help, while many skilled independent providers remain difficult to discover online.
“Google visibility is expensive and Facebook posts disappear quickly,” the team noted, pointing to the limitations of existing discovery channels.
Rather than launching both sides of the marketplace simultaneously, bibidi has chosen to focus first on building a critical mass of providers. The company is currently onboarding 1,200 service providers across the Central Okanagan ahead of a planned public launch this spring.
The strategy reflects a broader challenge in marketplace businesses, where early users often encounter empty or unreliable supply. By front-loading provider acquisition, bibidi aims to ensure immediate availability when customers arrive.
To do that, the company is leaning heavily on offline efforts. bibidi has assembled a team of community ambassadors who meet service providers in person, help them set up profiles, and in some cases walk them through downloading and using the app for the first time.
The approach blends digital infrastructure with human onboarding—something many marketplaces have moved away from in favour of purely online growth.
bibidi has been building within Kelowna’s tech ecosystem, including time spent with Accelerate Okanagan. The region’s entrepreneurial density is also a factor in the company’s strategy, with more than 30,000 registered businesses serving a population of roughly 230,000.
To build early awareness, the team has also embraced unconventional marketing. Around Kelowna, bibidi’s founders—and occasionally their spouses—have been spotted in bright yellow morph suits at events, on transit, and throughout the city.
The campaign includes a simple hook: anyone who spots a “Yellow Man” receives $100 in bibidi credits. The effort has turned into a local spectacle, while also helping spark conversations with both service providers and potential users.
bibidi is now focused on reaching its initial provider milestone before opening the platform to the public, entering a competitive but still highly fragmented local services market where trust, availability, and execution remain key differentiators.
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