The mobile laundry service called ‘Laundrygo’ has attracted investments worth 6.5 billion won or $5.4 million just a month after its launch. The investment has been led by Softbank Ventures with participation from Altos Ventures and Hana Ventures. Hana Ventures chose Laundrygo as its first investment in new shares since its establishment.

A non-direct, but one-day service for clean laundry

Laundrygo is a laundry service that allows customers to put their laundry in a self-developed smart laundry collection box. The laundry is then done and returned to the customer by 12:00 pm on the same day. Laundrygo provides a complete laundry solution in one day including shipping it back to the customer’s door. It is a rapidly growing service as it has secured about 1,000 paid customers within one month of its release. It operates in eight districts in Seoul, including Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa, Mapo, Yongsan, Dongjak, Seongdong and Yeongdeungpo.

 The biggest feature of Laundrygo is its introduction of non-face-to-face services to the laundry business sector. Because it operates as a non-existent surface through a private collection box, customers don’t have to spend time or go out to find their laundry. All-in-one washing is convenient, including dry cleaning clothes that are left to dry cleaners.

Laundrygo operates its own smart factory and offers high-quality laundry services at reasonable prices through medium distribution margins and ways to reduce production costs. Through a monthly subscription service, users can use the service at prices up to 50 percent lower than the market price.

Investors banking on growing laundry market in S. Korea

The CEO of Lifegoeson Company Corp, the company behind Laundrygo, Cho Seung-woo, started his business Dum & Dumers in 2011 and sold it to Baemin. After serving as CEO of Baemin Fresh, he launched Laundrygo. Cho Seung-woo introduced early morning delivery service for Baemin in 2013 for the first time in the domestic commerce industry.  

South Korea’s laundry market is worth about 4.5 trillion won and is mostly offline. “As the laundry market has been rising steeply with the recent increase in the number of one to two people, the overall laundry market is expected to grow to more than 7 trillion won in the next 10 years,” an official of Laundrygo said.

 “The current rate of mobile laundry orders is less than 0.5 percent of the total market, but it is expected to account for 15 to 20 percent of the future.”  “It was very impressive for an early startup to set up and operate a global smart factory,” said Lee Joon-pyo, CEO of Softbank Ventures.