Online laundry services startups are attracting investors

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Founders of the fashion e-tailer, Jabong  has invested $2 mn in acquiring Chennai-based online laundry service startup, Wassup. The on-demand convenience brand is co-founded by Balachandar.R and Durga Das.

Wassup offers services like laundry, dry cleaning, shoes and bag refurbishments in Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai and will expand in Pune and Cochin soon. The company has 30 pickup points called “Aggregating Hubs” where the garments can also be dropped off by the customer. Further, 30 Hubs will be added during the course of next six months. The brand vision is to be in 100 cities with a customer base of 1 Mn in the next three years.

The customer can reach out to order the service either through all India toll free number, or through the mobile app available for Android and iOS.

The on-demand convenience industry globally is estimated at $9 Bn. The laundry market is estimated to be valued at INR 200,000 crores annually out of which 95% is unorganized market.

Balachandar R, Co-founder & CEO, Wassup, said, “The potential to move unorganized offline business to organized online convenience is huge. We are seeing a good opportunity and want to be the market leaders in the segment in India.”

Durga Das, Co-founder & MD, Wassup, who has 20 years of silicon valley experience behind her, said, “Technology is going to be the true enabler which will foster customer delight. We have built a technology platform that integrates the consumer app, Point of Sale, Tagging and tracking system and the CRM solution. Additionally we are adding analytics, a marketing performance platform and an efficient logistics management to ensure the customer gets an unrivaled experience in convenience. Mobile is going to be central to our tech development”.

ArunChandra Mohan and Praveen Sinha, Jabong founders said, “The On-Demand convenience industry is revolutionizing commercial behavior in cities around the world and the growth of the industry in India is exponential given the perennial growth in the per-capita of the country. The consumer behavior is witnessing a steady change and this is the best time to contribute in the same.”

Wassup will add Personal Care, Home Care, Car Care, Pet Care and Handyman services to its portfolio through its technology platform in the near future making it a truly comprehensive managed marketplace platform for on-demand consumer convenience.