Wassup, an on-demand laundry services startup has raised $ 3.2 million in a Series A funding round from existing investors including Anil Jain, MD, Refex Energy, HNIs from India and the Middle East. The company plans to use the investment for expansion and to build a stronger management team.
Founded in 2011, Wassup is targeted at the growing middle class Indian. They offer services like laundry, dry cleaning, shoes and bag refurbishments along with doorstep service in seven cities currently. As the startup provides omni-channel services, one can either schedule a service on the app or their website.
Balachandar R, Co-founder, Wassup said in a statement that he is planning to utilize the funds for improving the tech interface and increase customer base through acquisitions of smaller companies and organic addition of customers.
Speaking of the recent investment, Anil Jain, the investor said:
“The company has a sustainable, scalable model and has been steadily growing since its start in 2011. Among several laundry service startups that sprung up in the last 18 months, some of which have shut down, Wassup has steadily added 7 cities to its list.”
Although we have seen other laundry service providers like Washio, Mywash and Doormint shutting down operations recently, Wassup seems to be one key player in the sector which has sustained itself in the race. In 2015, the startup had raised around $2 million from Arun Chandra Mohan and Praveen Sinha, the Co-founders of Jabong and angel investor Micky Watwani.
It continued its growth spree by acquiring Chamak, a startup which had a strong presence in Mumbai two startups, followed by the acquisition of Hyderabad-based Ezeewash and Fabfresco. So far, the company has raised about $2 million from individual investors. After the Series A round, Balachandar plans to expand to 25 cities and start operations in South-East Asia and West Asia.