SaaS Startup for Laundry Industry Turns Raises $500K Pre-Seed Round Led by Better Capital

Turns is a modern full stack operating system for the $100B+ laundromats industry with integrated software & hardware.

Turns, a vertical SaaS startup for the laundry industry, has raised $500K in pre-seed funding led by Better Capital, along with participation from PointOne Capital and a set of stellar angels. Turns helps laundromats deliver a modern experience to their users with a full stack software & hardware integrated solution that includes a modern POS, customer management, hassle-free payments, accounting, employee management, logistics optimisation as well as compliance making it an all-in-one control center for laundromat owners.

Turns launched their beta and has already signed up 50+ laundromats and dry cleaners across eight countries including US, India, UAE & others. Turns will primarily focus on the United States market and is targeting 1000 customers in the next 12-18 months.

Laundry is a $100B+ industry worldwide and $40B+ in the United States alone and is rapidly transforming from the old dimly-lit quarter-operated stores to modern main street businesses run by customer obsessed entrepreneurs serving consumers as well as businesses and picking up and delivering laundry like DoorDash. Laundry is the 4th biggest retail spend category in the United States and a recession-proof industry that contributed billions to the GDP and was identified as an essential business during COVID restrictions emphasising their broad appeal and need in society. Small and independent laundromats and cleaners serve 100M+ retail customers as well as large B2B customers from industries like hospitality, medical establishments & others to ensure a supply of clean laundry.

Laundromats have complex workflows involving machines & manual labor, multiple business models designed around self service, vending sales, wash dry & fold, pickup & delivery orders, routes & more. Laundromat owners increasingly need a system that can scale as quickly as their business does and one that integrates seamlessly into existing systems. Traditional solutions have fallen short of the modern needs of this multi-billion dollar industry - this is the opportunity Turns is focused on.

Turns founders, Sukanth Srivastav and Vishal Gupta, built a laundry startup in India in 2015 and understood the nuts and bolts of the laundry business. Though that startup did not work out, it left Sukanth and Vishal thinking how large the industry and its problems were. They built on those learnings and zeroed in on building the “Toast for Laundromats” and started working on Turns in 2022.

“Laundromats & cleaners represent one of the largest main street businesses in the United States that was severely underserved by modern software. We see an immense vertical SaaS opportunity and already understand the laundry business intimately”, said Sukanth who leads all things business at Turns.

“Laundry is a large business but a complex & competitive one. Laundromats need state-of-the-art software to deliver the experience that is being demanded by B2C as well as B2B customers. We are building Turns to do just that - an all-in-one system that laundromat owners can operate easily and scale their business with a stellar customer experience”, said Vishal who leads all things product & engineering at Turns.

“Vertical SaaS is a massive opportunity that is being unlocked by a new generation of companies that bring a modern Uber and DoorDash like experience to users across a wide range of verticals. Toast did it for restaurants and Turns is doing that for laundromats. We are excited to be ground zero partners to Sukanth and Vishal as they pursue this large vision”, said Vaibhav Domkundwar of Better Capital, an early backer of breakout vertical SaaS companies like Open, Teachmint, Plobal and others.

One of the Largest European Startups - Jeff, Forays into Indian Gig Economy

• The company’s on-demand laundry service  - Mr. Jeff gaining traction owing to affordability and convenience.
  
  


• Seeks to add 200 franchisees by December 2020 across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai & Delhi NCR.

One of the largest European technology start-ups, Jeff app, today announced its foray into Indian markets with its app-based on-demand wellbeing services. Launched in 2015 as a dry cleaning and laundry service mobile app – Jeff presently commands a footprint in more than 40 countries through 2,000+ franchisee stores. Jeff offers an offline plus online subscription model for laundry, beauty and fitness – through its easy to use app – supported by a network of own and franchised outlets. 

“India is fast becoming the epicenter of economic growth – given its demographic dividends, large consumer base, improving standards of living and expanding cities and towns. To add to this, the country has been at the forefront of internet and telecom play; and has consistently witnessed the influx of expats and global Indians settling into cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Gurugram, to name a few. No company striving for growth and visibility today ignore can ignore India. We are thrilled to foray into India and seek to offer a universe of affordable and quality on-demand services for the aspiring Indians”, said Eloi Gómez Cal, Co-founder & CEO, Jeff.

Jeff’s laundry service – Mr. Jeff will offer a monthly subscription or on-demand model, and it is specially designed for the urban client, who needs to be always connected to tech solutions, to easily access an app and to have control over his time and options. 60% of Mr. Jeff clients have never used other laundry services before – resulting in a new category for the company in its market of presence. Mr. Jeff’s laundry franchise would also facilitate the usage of both cash and card, therefore making the services accessible to the length and breadth of India. 

Eloi said, “The app offers a unique opportunity for Indians entrepreneurs and inventors who are looking for a business opportunity with a fast return on investment (ROI). The typical franchise will recoup its investment within 28 months, with a breakeven in the 6th month and almost making a profit of above Rs. one lakh from the 12th month onwards. Local franchisees will also receive strong marketing and partner support from Mr. Jeff, with royalties and marketing fees starting after the 5th month. With our digital approach and our subscriptions plans, we intend to change the traditional function of the dry-cleaning sector."

Jeff is a start-up that was created in 2015 by 3 Spanish entrepreneurs in their twenties, with the help of the booster acceleration program. The company currently offers home delivery laundry and dry cleaning services in Europe and Latin America, Middle East, Asia which may be requested through the app and website.

In 2019, the company also introduced two new services on its platform – Beauty Jeff and FitJeff. “What sets us apart from the existing players in India, that while we offer affordability in terms of our services; we compromise on imparting a superior experience to our clients. For instance, our beauty services are imparted by trained salon professionals in the salon near you and not in the confines of your home. At the same time, our fitness studios are customized to Jeff standards in offering professional, impact let fitness training in an engaging fun way”, added Eloi.

About Jeff

Jeff is the company that has revolutionized the franchise sector and they have managed to offer something new, designed by and for the client. Jeff is a wellness services platform, an ecosystem of specialists that enhances the good life. Set up in 2015 in Valencia, Spain, Mr. Jeff started as an on-demand laundry services app – that used to collect laundry from the home and drop it off within 48 hours.

The company, in order to scale up fast, resorted to franchisee model in December 2017 – by partnering first franchisee in Latin America. Mr. Jeff subsequently changed its name in 2019 to Jeff and added two more segments – Beauty and Fitness. 

In December 2018, Jeff received 12 million dollars (10.4 million euro) in a Series A financing round led by All Iron Ventures. This Series A adds 3.5 million dollars (over 3 million euro) attained in previous operations from respected European entrepreneurs such as Albert Armengol, CEO of Doctoralia, Jeroen Merchiers, Managing Director of Airbnb Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Kim Jung, CEO NX Corp,. Jeff has already been awarded with several prizes including European Centers for Innovative Companies 2017, Young Entrepreneurs of Valencia in 2017 and According to Google, the company was one of the 20 best start-ups in the world also in 2017.

India’s largest Tech-enabled Laundry Chain Startup UClean Acquires White Tiger Laundry

India’s leading tech-enabled chain of laundry and home cleaning stores, UClean, has acquired Delhi NCR based White Tiger laundry in a majority equity buyout.

As a part of the acquisition, UClean will acquire White Tiger’s Delhi NCR 20 stores. UClean will also onboard the entire staff, franchisee partners and existing infrastructure of White Tiger.

UClean’s acquisition comes close on the heels of its international expansion into the markets of Bangladesh and Nepal.

[caption id="attachment_133031" align="aligncenter" width="683"] Arunabh Sinha Founder and CEO UClean[/caption]

Talking about the acquisition, Arunabh Sinha, Founder and CEO, UClean, said, “In a growing market like India, tech enabled laundry solutions hold immense potential given the low penetration of technology in an unorganised segment overall. As market leaders, our vision is to organise the $34 billion market opportunity. The acquisition is a step in that direction.

The franchise system and legacy that White Tiger has built over the last 20 years is commendable and still very strong. Plus the expertise that their team brings on the table is much needed in our scale and growth at this moment.”

UClean currently operates the largest network of over 130 stores across 35 cities in India and has over half a million users availing its services every year. Most of these customers are repeat users who come to UClean at least once a month. In order to cater to these users, the acquisition will enable UClean to implement the latest in the infrastructure available in the space as well acquire White Tiger’s existing userbase.

UClean offers home pick up & drop as well as a DIY model where customers can visit their nearby UClean laundromat to address their laundry needs. The hyperlocal model of UClean ensures that customers are within a 3km radius of their nearest UClean store. Using technology, UClean is able to address the needs of its users better by offering a real time status on a customer’s order and pay via digital platforms.

As per market experts, India’s laundry industry is largely fragmented and is worth more than $34 billion annually. With the rise of nuclear families and busy work schedules, UClean aims to address the growing challenge of getting laundry done on time with minimal hassle.

About UClean

UClean is building India's first organized chain of laundry and home cleaning stores, focused on fostering the DIY (Do It Yourself) culture. With technology at the heart of the brand, UClean also enables the time crunched customers to avail pick-n- drop service from the comfort of their home or office. UClean is committed to work with other entrepreneurs and investors and co-build the UClean brand with them through the franchise route. The entrepreneurs are trained, equipped and handheld in building and operating their own UClean franchise store. With some of the most credible partners on-board for a venture of this nature, UClean is striving to not just be a brand but an overall segment creator.

IIT Bombay Graduate Brings Concept of WiFi Enabled Laundromats in India

A Delhi NCR-based startup is focused on bringing the concept of laundromats to India and give birth to a “Laundry Revolution” in the country. UClean, which came into existence in November 2016, offers Indian citizens integrated cleaning services all under one roof, something which until now wasn't available in the country on such a large and organized scale.

Built around the concept of laundromats, which is a popular concept in the West, UClean is looking to build a chain of brick-n-mortar stores all around the Indian subcontinent. In addition to laundry, these stores also offer services like ironing, dry-cleaning, carpet cleaning, sofa cleaning etc.

Customers wanting to avail UClean's services can either choose to physically walk into a UClean store or they can even schedule a pick-n-drop service through the click of a button on the website or by simply calling up the firm's call centre number. As of now, each of the physical store caters to about 5 kms radius around the store. In order to offer an incentive for people to walk down to the stores, all of the currently operational UClean stores are Wi-Fi enabled.

For the uninitiated, the laundromat culture refers to the 'do-it-yourself’ (DIY) laundry concept. Seeing the huge success of the concept in US, Europe and South East Asia, UClean's founder, Arunabh Sinha decided to make the concept popular even in India. He strongly believes that now is a ripe time for laundry concepts in India as the Indian customer is now ready and mature to embrace the outsourced laundry concept.

[caption id="attachment_115966" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Arunabh Sinha[/caption]

An IIT Bombay graduate, Arunabh is optimistic that the concept of outsourced laundry has a potential of becoming viral in the country if it is well executed and is driven at the back end by Technology and analytics. Arunabh, who also functions as the CEO of the company, has a rich experience in the Franchising and Startup space. He has previously worked with Franchise India where he had set-up the entire international business practice for the company. Very recently, he was heading the North India business of budget hotel chain, Treebo Hotels and was in charge of all the development in North India.

While there are many laundry services operational in the country currently, what makes UClean stand out from the pack is the fact, that they are the only player in the market that offers a seamless integration between front end (technology platform which allows customers to book a slot as per their convenience) and back end (physical stores actually executing these orders). Currently, the Indian laundry market either has pureplay online aggregators (With no back end stores) or mom & pop local store operators (with no online presence or technological interface). UClean is the only player that boosts of having both the back-end as well as the front end.

Arunabh's belief in the Indian laundry market has paid off phenomenally well as within 6 months of the startup's launch, UClean has registered its presence in the country through brick-n-mortar stores in 5 metropolitan cities namely Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Pune and Hyderabad. In addition to this, its first 2 stores (Delhi and Gurgaon) have already broken even operationally. The startup is currently registering a figure of about USD 15,000 per month with revenues growing at ~50% MOM. Focused on growth, the startup had recently roped in celebrity couple Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Khemu as strategic partners as well as brand ambassadors to promote the outsourced laundry concept.

Arunabh's future plans for UClean involves making the company into a national brand through the franchise route with a target of having about 300 stores on a pan India basis by the year 2020. Additionally, he aims to expand UClean's portfolio of services to include all cleaning related services. Also celebrities Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Khemu are UClean’s strategic partners.

UClean Website - UClean.in[cp_clear]

IIT Bombay Graduate Brings Concept of WiFi Enabled Laundromats in India

A Delhi NCR-based startup is focused on bringing the concept of laundromats to India and give birth to a “Laundry Revolution” in the country. UClean, which came into existence in November 2016, offers Indian citizens integrated cleaning services all under one roof, something which until now wasn't available in the country on such a large and organized scale.

Built around the concept of laundromats, which is a popular concept in the West, UClean is looking to build a chain of brick-n-mortar stores all around the Indian subcontinent. In addition to laundry, these stores also offer services like ironing, dry-cleaning, carpet cleaning, sofa cleaning etc.

Customers wanting to avail UClean's services can either choose to physically walk into a UClean store or they can even schedule a pick-n-drop service through the click of a button on the website or by simply calling up the firm's call centre number. As of now, each of the physical store caters to about 5 kms radius around the store. In order to offer an incentive for people to walk down to the stores, all of the currently operational UClean stores are Wi-Fi enabled.

For the uninitiated, the laundromat culture refers to the 'do-it-yourself’ (DIY) laundry concept. Seeing the huge success of the concept in US, Europe and South East Asia, UClean's founder, Arunabh Sinha decided to make the concept popular even in India. He strongly believes that now is a ripe time for laundry concepts in India as the Indian customer is now ready and mature to embrace the outsourced laundry concept.

[caption id="attachment_115966" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Arunabh Sinha[/caption]

An IIT Bombay graduate, Arunabh is optimistic that the concept of outsourced laundry has a potential of becoming viral in the country if it is well executed and is driven at the back end by Technology and analytics. Arunabh, who also functions as the CEO of the company, has a rich experience in the Franchising and Startup space. He has previously worked with Franchise India where he had set-up the entire international business practice for the company. Very recently, he was heading the North India business of budget hotel chain, Treebo Hotels and was in charge of all the development in North India.

While there are many laundry services operational in the country currently, what makes UClean stand out from the pack is the fact, that they are the only player in the market that offers a seamless integration between front end (technology platform which allows customers to book a slot as per their convenience) and back end (physical stores actually executing these orders). Currently, the Indian laundry market either has pureplay online aggregators (With no back end stores) or mom & pop local store operators (with no online presence or technological interface). UClean is the only player that boosts of having both the back-end as well as the front end.

Arunabh's belief in the Indian laundry market has paid off phenomenally well as within 6 months of the startup's launch, UClean has registered its presence in the country through brick-n-mortar stores in 5 metropolitan cities namely Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Pune and Hyderabad. In addition to this, its first 2 stores (Delhi and Gurgaon) have already broken even operationally. The startup is currently registering a figure of about USD 15,000 per month with revenues growing at ~50% MOM. Focused on growth, the startup had recently roped in celebrity couple Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Khemu as strategic partners as well as brand ambassadors to promote the outsourced laundry concept.

Arunabh's future plans for UClean involves making the company into a national brand through the franchise route with a target of having about 300 stores on a pan India basis by the year 2020. Additionally, he aims to expand UClean's portfolio of services to include all cleaning related services. Also celebrities Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Khemu are UClean’s strategic partners.

UClean Website - UClean.in[cp_clear]

This IIT Alumni Led Online Laundry Is An Affordable Service To Every Middle Household

A Noida based startup called Dhobilite promises to make all your laundry burden lite in a jiffy.

If for once you're thinking that Dhobilite is similar to all the other online laundry services currently operating in the market, you're highly mistaken. In addition to the regular cloth laundry and dry cleaning service, the startup also offers its customers with shoe dry cleaning and car wash and dry cleaning services. Sounds interesting? Well, it is.

Started in the year 2013, Dhobilite's mission is to make laundry a hassle-free chore for people. It's user-friendly website and Android app helps it to provide its users with an end-to-end solution for all their laundry needs, right from placing their orders, tracking them, rate list, history, coupons, referrals, rating and payment solutions and integration with PayTm. Further, in addition to providing its customers with end-to-end solutions, the startup has taken upon itself the responsibility of providing end-to-end solutions to all the vendors associated with it.

Nowadays lives have become so fast and tiresome that at the end of the day the last thing we want to do is laundry. But, like food, it is one thing that we ought to do in order to live a healthy life. This is where Dhobilite enters your lives and shoos away your laundry troubles right from your clothes, shoes to your car.

The startup believes that they debuted in the market at the right time, and this has helped them garner important knowledge about the market and technology. And, now that the market is ready to reach its true potential, they are best placed to reap the fruits of hard work they have been laying for the last three years since entering the market.

The startup has recently launched its operation in Gurugram (Gurgaon) market, where it is offering premium laundry services which has better TAT, individual packaging options, etc.



The Noida based startup knows that the market's need is just laundry, and other things like technology, branding etc. are just enablers that helps them reach their customers demands and expectations. Hence, they believe in investing most of their time and resources in providing 100% quality laundry services at the best rates possible rather than going for expensive marketing and advertising.

Due its clear understanding of the market needs, the startup has been able to maintain an increasing growth tangent since inception.

The following figures speak for themselves in terms of Dhobilite's noteworthy growth since the year 2013.

• Order served has increased from 3000 in financial year 2013 to 4500 in financial year 2014 and further to 6500 in last financial year.


• 80% MoM retention rate of customers


• Approx 40% orders are from online platform (app / web)


• Avg delivery time of 2.2 days (It include delays due to customer unavailablity, otherwise order gets ready in around 36 hrs.)


• 80% of order are picked and delivered on time.



• Average number of complaints of below 1 percent (this includes complaints of web/app, behavioral issues, timing, pressing, washing, billing, etc.)

The startup is the labour of hard-work of two IIT Varanasi alumni, Nishant Tripath and Abhishek Kumar. Both of them have a strong 13+ experience in technology and cleaning services and a sound knowledge in process automation and behavior analysis data capture techniques.

After forming a strong grip in Noida and nearby areas, the startup, which hasn't received any funding as of yet, has recently made a foray into the Gurgaon market and so far the feedback has been positive. In the near future, the startup aims to have its presence in whole of NCR and other major cities like Hyderabad and Bengaluru.