Dry cleaning and laundry service ihateironing.com has raised $190k as it gets set to launch its mobile app.
The London-based startup lets users arrange on-demand collection and delivery of laundry and dry cleaning in 24 hours.
The investment comes from Blue Wire Capital.
On-demand service
Founded in 2012, the service covers all of London and recently launched in Manchester, Reading, Brighton, Oxford and Cambridge.
Users select an hour slot for pickup and delivery, which the startup claims can at times be as little as eight hours apart.
Collection and delivery starts at 8am and finishes at 8:30pm. Getting five men’s shirts ironed will set you back £15 (but there is a minimum order of £20).
Everyone’s adapting
Founder and CEO Matt Connelly believes like many other services, dry cleaners are having to adapt their way of working to technology.
Just like many other businesses, dry cleaners are having to re-assess the best way to meet evolving customer needs.
With an increasingly time-poor, convenience driven audience, who manage an ever greater proportion of their lives online, ihateironing.com is also supporting a market which has historically made little investment in online innovation and technology.
Blue Wire Capital Partner Nikolay Tretyakov chose to invest in the company after having been a customer himself and being impressed by the model and quality of the service.