Laundry service Wash Swat wraps up $16 mn Series B round

South Korea-based laundry service startup Wash Swat Inc. has secured 17.5 billion won ($16 million) in Series B round funding, bringing the company's total amount raised to date to 27.7 billion won, according to the company on May. 3.

A new batch of investors participated in the latest funding, including UTC Investment, Industrial Bank of Korea, KB Securities, ES Investor and T Investment, alongside existing investors.

Established in 2015, Wash Swat was co-founded by Namgung Jina and Ye Sang-wook, with a team of employees who were founding members of e-commerce giant Coupang Corp., which made its trading debut in the US in March.

Wash Swat provides pick-up and delivery laundry services, collecting clothes early in the morning and returning them the day after. The company first rolled out its service in Gangnam, one of the largest business districts in Seoul. Since then, the company has expanded the scope of its service across other cities, including Goyang, Seongnam and Gwangmyeong.

Since its inception, the company has logged an impressive 200% average annual growth rate, positioning itself as the country's leading laundry service, processing around 300,000 pieces of clothing a month.

Also, Wash Swat set up a Smart Factory in May 2020 to process the rapidly growing orders that were driven by the COVID-19 crisis, which led to a rise in the use of contactless services. The company set up a second Smart Factory in April of this year, and once it kicks off operation, Wash Swat will be able to handle up to 1 million pieces of clothing on a monthly basis.

Meanwhile, Wash Swat plans to use the proceeds of the fundraising to expand its services nationwide, boost its Smart Factory operating system, and begin data mining the large batches of clothing handled every month. In line with its expansion plans, the company will hire new talent across all its divisions -- engineering, strategy, growth and HR.

Write to Chae-yeon Kim at why29@hankyung.com
Danbee Lee edited this article.