Startups Awards finalist Laundryheap raises £2m to hit £17m valuation

Laundryheap, the on-demand delivery start-up and App of the Year finalist at the Startups Awards 2017, has raised £2m via angel finance in a funding round led by Simon Smith and QVentures.

Now valued at £17m, this current round represents the first instance of external finance the start-up has raised – as it previously had been bootstrapped.

Targeted towards time-strapped consumers who don’t have time to attend to their own laundry, Laundryheap offers an on-demand dry cleaning service that allows users make their bookings directly via its website or iOS and Android app.

After the user picks a time that suits them for collection, Laundryheap’s scouts then pick up the dirty laundry from the user’s home or chosen location and deliver them to a partner facility, where they are expertly cleaned and returned within 24 hours, any day of the week.

The start-up also offers same-day collection (pick up in 30 minutes) and free delivery within 24 hours, and is part of the major shift of bringing established industries to the ‘on-demand’ economy.

Launched in 2014 by Deyan Dimitrov, Sebastian van Os and Mayur Bommai, the London-based start-up is available to users in the nation’s capital as well as in Manchester, Birmingham, Dublin and Dubai.

Claiming to have generated £2m in revenue this year and said to have made “thousands” of deliveries since inception, the start-up will use the latest injection of funding to explore international opportunities.

Deyan Dimitrov, founder and CEO of Laundryheap, said:

“As a company we have seen incredible growth off the back of raising the standard of on-demand laundry services.

“With this investment, we look to become the market leader in Europe within the next 12 months.”

Laundryheap’s main rival is the on-demand laundry sector is Startups 100-ranked Laundrapp.

Working on very similar model and currently available in over 100 UK towns and cities, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and UAE, Laundrapp has raised over £15m to date, and employs over 90 members of staff across its head office, regional laundry hubs and delivery drivers.

Looking to emulate its biggest rival, Laundryheap will be hoping it can follow in the footsteps of Laundrapp – who captured App of the Year at the 2016 Startups Awards.

In a recent blog for Startups, Laundrapp co-founder and CEO Edward Relf explained how its Startups Awards success had spurred the start-up on to expand into international markets and launch new features on its app.

Taking place on the 30th November 2017, the 14th Startups Awards 2017 will see a record-breaking 77 finalists compete across 16 categories including The Start Up Loans Start-up of the Year, Crowdfunded Business of the Year, Product Business of the Year and the Women in Business Award.

Alongside Laundryheap, finalists in the App of the Year category include:

• Bloom & Wild
• Debut
• Medshr
• miDrive
• Spoon Guru
• Urban Massage
• Yoyo Wallet