Household chores take up between 1.4 and 2.5 hours of the average person’s day — and a good portion of that is one of the most tedious tasks: laundry. It becomes even worse when you’re responsible for a whole household’s clothing needs; in fact, studies have even shown a mother might spend months out of her life in the laundry room.
Childhood best friends Dan D’Aquisto and Alex Smereczniak founded 2ULaundry to outsource those dreaded laundry tasks. Smereczniak had operated a university campus laundry business while still a student and successfully grew it to sell for 10x the amount he bought it for.
He joined with D’Aquisto to perfect an outsourced laundry service model that would cater to a target audience of dual-income families — busy parents who don’t have time for household chores. Rather than serving as a middleman, like many of the laundry services popular on university campuses, 2ULaundry actually operates their own facilities to maintain a high level of quality.
They give users three bags — one for basics, one for delicates, and one for dry cleaning. Like Uber, your account is free until you actually have a transaction, and you’re only charged per transaction. No downloading a new app, either — all communication is through text message. Your clothes are picked up and returned freshly cleaned (even folded!) within 24 hours.
Thus far, with just one market of Charlotte, NC, they’ve saved users over a million hours of time. Along with landing in the Techstars Atlanta program, the team has recently pulled in a $2.5 million seed round with contributions from Techstars Ventures and Cox Enterprises.
“The momentum we have going is incredible,” says CRO D’Aquisto. “This latest round of funding is just another shot of adrenaline to the business and keeps us skyrocketing on an upward trajectory with limitless possibilities.”
With the money, they’re looking to hire and are quickly preparing to launch their service in Atlanta. They say the Techstars Atlanta network has been invaluable and they’re excited to continue developing their presence in the city.
“We originally accepted the offer to join the Techstars 2017 class to use the program as a springboard into launching our second market,” says CEO Smereczniak. “The value we have received has been just that and so much more. Dan and I already feel more connected in Atlanta after two months than we do in Charlotte after two years. The network support is incredible.”
“We’re looking forward to making 2ULaundry a household name nationwide,” says Smereczniak.
Just as pumped for 2ULaundry’s expansion as we are? Sign up for the waitlist here!
