Laundry start-up ihateironing.com bags £120,000 investment

A start-up that allows individuals and companies to arrange pick-up and return of their laundry within 24 hours has raised £120,000 from VC firm Blue Wire Capital.

Founded in 2013 by CEO Matt Connelly, ihateironing.com uses its network of hand-picked laundry partners to offer an on-demand collection and delivery service, which it claims can deliver turn-around in 24 hours.

It is intended as an alternative to what ihateironing.com termed the “hassle” of dealing with locally-available dry cleaning services.

Since launch the company has expanded past London to launch in Manchester, Reading, Brighton, Oxford and Cambridge.

Blue Wire Capital’s investment came after partner Nikolay Tretyakov used the service as a customer, and will be used to fund new hires and grow the company across the UK and internationally.

Tretyakov said: “By making laundry and dry cleaning fast and efficient, ihateironing.com is giving people time back to do the things they love.

“The great user experience and customer service provided by the team, alongside long term exclusive partnerships with the very best dry cleaners, positions ihateironing.com to establish themselves as markets leaders and build a very successful company.”

Matt Connelly, founder and chief executive of ihateironing.com, said: “With very little start up capital we’ve grown to over a thousand customers, by focusing on making every aspect of our service hassle free.

“This funding will enable us to further build our successful team to continue improving our service and grow our customer base.”