Blog

Laundryheap:
It's Friday evening and the seven day preemption period has passed. The campaign is still open and will probably not close until Monday. Let's take another look at Laundryheap!

This startup has kept a low profile and has failed to publish frequent or informative investor reportings. However, in my research I found lots of positive points and I have more information than is publicly available. Therefore, I ask for your understanding that I chose my wording carefully below and cannot go into as much detail as I would like to in some parts. The overall result of all the pieces of the puzzle tells me: This is where I want to invest!

Founder Deyan is an ex-employee of Rocket Internet – the Samwer brothers' e-commerce incubator, which is undoubtedly very successful.

The business model is a scalable chain of laundry and dry cleaning branches that follows a strong online and full-service approach. The services can be booked online and includes picking up, washing/cleaning and returning the clothes – depending on the service with short service times starting from one day. The services can be booked starting from a minimum order value of GBP 20. It's not exactly cheap - but certainly convenient for well-paid business customers.

Within 3-4 years, sales could increase by a factor of 10x from the current level. That would roughly mean doubling sales every year for some time. A tough goal, but one that seems feasible based on the data from the pitch deck. The current revenue multiple is in the mid-range: More expensive than public consumer goods manufacturers, which are valued at 2x revenue, but cheaper than other startups or fintech companies, which are often valued at revenue multiples of 10x or higher. In a good case, I think a valuation increase of about 4-7x is feasible in the next 4-5 years.

The operational KPIs such as Average Order Value (AOV), Gross Margin, LTC and CAC are developing positively. Laundryheap has already proven in recent years that its business model can be rolled out internationally and is already active (sometimes with a single branch only) in over 10 countries. This existing "playbook" for rolling out into new major cities and a clear plan to quickly make new branches profitable is a point that deeply impresses me. An additional vertical includes B2B customers. For example, AirBnB hosts are also offered laundry services, both for the beds of the accommodation as well as for clothing of AirBnB customers.

On Trustpilot, Laundryheap has an average rating of 4.2 out of 5 points with overall 5,800 reviews.

With the current funding round of GBP 2MM, Laundryheap could already become profitable in about 2 years. However, additional growth financing later in 2022 remains an option in order to be able to act more quickly in additional business areas. With Sova VC and Q Ventures, two VCs have already been invested from previous rounds.

Deyan recently mentioned that there is likely to be another announcement from Laundryheap in the next few weeks, which is relatively significant and may positively impact growth. I'm excited to hear more!

Overall, Laundryheap is worth an investment for me and will be included in my sample portfolio 2022. My personal investment in this round is only in the mid three-digit range. I already hold a four-figure investment in Laundryheap, which I acquired through the Seedrs secondary market.

Disclosure of conflicts of interest: I have invested in some of the startups mentioned at an earlier time and/or at a lower valuation or better terms.

Risk warning : This is my personal sample portfolio 2022. The content is for general information only and does not provide any guarantees. This is not investment advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell any particular startup. This is not intended to be a promotion of any individual investment opportunity and is not an offer to the public. You decide for yourself how you proceed. Investments in startups are high-risk investments and regularly lead to total loss of capital invested. This is an illiquid investment class. It is often not possible to recover the capital invested before the company is sold or at all. Please also note the disclaimer.