When on-demand laundry service Washio closed its lid and sold its assets to non-demand laundry service, Rinse, 2 years ago, some worried the market had run out of warm water.
But yesterday, the Spanish startup, Mr. Jeff, loaded a $12m Series A, led by All Iron Ventures — and it could mean that investors aren’t done with the on-demand laundry spin cycle.
What’s wrong with on-demand?
If you ask Rinse CEO Ajay Prakash, he believes the model lacks economic practicality. Most on-demand services focus on quick turnaround, and speed requires more cars, more bodies, and more money.
According to TechCrunch, Prakash believes it was Washio’s pivot to an on-demand model that soiled the company’s potential.
So what’s Mr. Jeff’s ancient on-demand secret?
Taking its competitors to the cleaners
Mr. Jeff believes it can wash the dirty business of on-demand cleaning by focusing on markets in areas where seeing a laundry machine is like seeing a unicorn.
The 2-year-old company offers on-demand home and dry cleaning services in 7 countries, mainly in Latin America, and the company went into the new year with more than 1k franchises. With the new funding, Mr. Jeff aims to wash clothes in 30 countries by the end of 2019.
