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Doing laundry can be a chore . It takes time and is tedious . Few multitude care to do it .
So it ’s no surprise that startup have emerged to take that load off your back — literally . And investors are lining up to fund new and old players alike .
Eleven - calendar month - oldNoScrubshas just raise $ 2 million in a pre - seed troll lead by Initialized Capital for its on - requirement laundry delivery service of process . And in late February , Rinseraised a $ 23 million Series D led by LG Electronics to stay on growing its 12 - year - former business organization , which let in dry cleaning inspection and repair .
While they have dissimilar line models , the two companies are the latest examples of laundry startups attract venture capital . And they ’re hoping to succeed in a distance that has see other startup wash up .
Early Instacart employeeMatt O’Connor , CEO of NoScrubs , andSudhanshu Gautam , CTO , ( depict above ) founded the startup nigh a year ago with the spirit of building a faster , more affordable wash service . The company claims it can return folded loads within a few 60 minutes from pickup . Customers can either pay on demand or sign up for a subscription .
So far , NoScrubs is only usable in its house groundwork of Austin , where it ’s approach 1,000 alone client , O’Connor tells TechCrunch entirely . ( I used the service briefly in 2024 when our domicile renovation resulted in a going of access to our washer and dryer . )
Rinse , which touts itself as the “ Uber of laundry , ” was found by CEOAjay Prakash , CTOSam Cheng , andJames Jounin 2013 . It has raised over $ 70 million since inception .
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San Francisco - based Rinse presently operates in several major U.S. city . It toast to ferment around washables or dry cleaning within as little as 24 hour ( for an excess fee ) but has a standard three- to four - day flip-flop . It congratulate itself on hiring its worker as employee rather than making them independent contractor .
NoScrubs
The idea for NoScrubs was abide while O’Connor was head of geographic enlargement at Instacart as one of its first 20 employees . He became frustrated with his laundry service , which he felt was too expensive and slow .
NoScrubs believes the speed at which it ’s able to turn around its religious service gives it an edge . It has designate what O’Connor describe as strategic localisation spread throughout Austin so that the space traveled after the time of getaway is minimized . Those locations are a combination of what he described as “ vetted laundromat partners and uncouth laundry room in flat complexes .
The company plans to expand within Texas and “ across most of the U.S. ” he say by the end of 2026 . before long , NoScrubs has 13 employees .
Rinse
The idea for Rinse come while Prakash and Joun , two former Dartmouth classmates , and Cheng embarked on a missionary post to sprain this chore into a tech - enabled service .
Prakash ’s background was in startups and Joun ’s parent had drop more than two decennary function a brick - and - mortar dry cleaner in South San Francisco . They pilot the construct with friend before bootstrapping the business .
Since those early days , Rinse says it has clean more than 100 million garments . While it operate chiefly a direct - to - consumer fashion model , it is now also growing the B2B side of its job , where it serves commercial-grade client such as multifamily wheeler dealer , cafes , and watering place .
Looking ahead , Prakash says Rinse ’s next step is to acquire and brand brick - and - trench mortar launderette and cleaner . It also intends to cover to expand geographically .
Today , it employ about 600 valets and about 100 non - valet workers .
Like NoScrubs , it offers a subscription service as well as a higher - price pay - as - you - go option .
Investors
Initialized Partner Zoe Perret believe that NoScrubs stand out because of its model of leveraging underutilized machine in launderette and flat complex rather than have its own base .
“ Even this presently after launch , initial grip in their first market shows a light path toward scalability while maintaining strong unit economic science , ” she said . “ As they carry on to prove this line model work , they can stop up and play to expand into new geos at scale . ”
Frontier Venture Capital join Initialized in backing NoScrubs ’ pre - seed troll .
Meanwhile , LG is helpingpromote its investmentby offering Rinse ’s services to vendee of its washer and dryers . Considering that the U.S. washables facilities and dry - cleaning servicesmarket sizewas guess at $ 15.75 billion in 2024 , it ’s clear that this is a massive industry with way for multiple instrumentalist . Not all companies in the space have fare well , though . In 2016 , Washio shut down its operations , whichRinse scooped up . And in 2014 , Y Combinator - backeddoor - to - threshold laundry servicePrim announced it wasshutting down .
