Cleanly, the New York City-based laundry and dry cleaning delivery startup, announced today that it has purchased dry cleaning delivery service The Dhobi and its laundry counterpart, Do Laundry for Me. In New York, where competition is particularly fierce, the acquisition marks a significant solidification of the market for the two-and-a-half year old startup. Like so many millions of New Yorkers before him, CEO and co-founder Tom Harari moved to Brooklyn unaware of the lack of convenient laundry and dry cleaning options. Cleanly was born out of Harari’s frustration with unreliable delivery services that still operated as cash-only businesses and communicated (if at all), by phone. Addressing the needs of busy New Yorkers, Harari, co-founder Itay Forer, and VP of Engineering Alex Prober, created an efficient, quality-driven experience.
Upon its founding in 2015, the leadership team distinguished itself when Cleanly was accepted into the prestigious Y Combinator, the startup incubator. At YC the company raised $2.3 million in seed funding. In April 2017, the company closed a series A Round with a $5 million investment, led by AddVenture, the international venture capital firm establishing a reputation for investing heavily in home services around the globe. Returning investors included Alexis Ohanian and Garry Tan’s Initialized Capital and AltalR Capital. This brings the total funds raised to $8.8 million since the company was founded in 2015. In nearly two and a half years over 2.5 million loads of laundry have been cleaned.
Customers throughout New York, Brooklyn, and Washington, DC appreciate the hassle-free features of the app that make using Cleanly simple and thorough. These include Cleanly RUSH, a time-saving option where the pick-up and delivery times are selected to the exact hour and clothes are returned the same day or overnight. Another recently implemented feature allows users to snap a photo highlighting stains on clothes that’s then attached to the order to further ensure appropriate attention and customized treatment for each garment.
“There’s no easier way to get back much needed free time than using Cleanly,” says CEO and founder Tom Harari. “We’ve completely eliminated all of the frustrating and time-consuming parts of dealing with laundry and dry cleaning from the hours wasted waiting for countless loads to finish drying and the anxiety caused by rushing to pick up much-needed dry cleaning for the next day’s important meeting. Users throughout New York and Washington, DC have quickly become devoted customers and we are excited to introduce Cleanly to users of The Dhobi and Do Laundry for Me.”
About Cleanly
Cleanly was created as a solution to the typical laundry and dry cleaning experience which too often involves confusing pricing, unclear processes or poor customer service. Founded in New York in 2015, Cleanly emerged from San Francisco’s prestigious Y Combinator incubator with a $2.3 million investment from some of Silicon Valley’s most influential entrepreneurs. In 2016, the company expanded outside the New York-region to Washington, D.C. Recently, Cleanly closed a $5 million Series A Round, bringing the total funds raised to $8.8 million, helping the company to continue its expansion.
Attachments:
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b5cd5091-c1f8-4db6-a84f-955d01898540