Laundryheap, one of the world’s largest on-demand laundry and dry-cleaning platforms, has today announced that it has acquired French competitor Wast, which operates across Paris. The deal, the details of which remain undisclosed, follows a steady expansion of Laundryheap’s market footprint since it was founded in 2014 and is the latest in a string of global acquisitions.
This latest move will expand Laundryheap’s reach to Paris, where Wast has been operating since 2017. Founded by university friends Yannick Mbengue, David Gourdet and Ziad Abourjeili, Wast has since embedded its operations across France’s capital.
All 7 members of the Wast team will remain in their roles. The Wast brand will be replaced by the Laundryheap brand in the coming weeks, with existing Wast customers able to access on-demand laundry and dry-cleaning services through Laundryheap. This means customers will now be able to access Laundryheap’s 24-hour turnaround service at no extra cost, compared to the current 48-hour offering currently available through Wast.
Laundryheap also plans to expand the current Paris-based operations: forging new B2B partnerships, including a new service specifically designed for Airbnb hosts; expanding the geographic reach of services; introducing new services such as repairs and carpet cleaning; and capitalising on the upcoming Olympic Games, which will be hosted in the capital.
In 2022, the UK-based company saw growth of 130%. With the acquisition of Wast, which offers on-demand services across Paris, Laundryheap expands its operations to a total of 11 international markets, including the UK, US, Singapore, the UAE, and now France.
Deyan Dimitrov, CEO and Founder of Laundryheap, comments: “We are thrilled to be launching in our eleventh international market following the acquisition of Wast. The Wast team has built a solid business and generated strong customer buy-in across Paris for on-demand laundry and dry-cleaning. Laundryheap is excited to take this to the next level, growing our French consumer footprint and partnering with businesses across the region.”
In the last 14 months, Laundryheap has also acquired UK competitor Laundrapp and taken over the consumer operations of fellow UK provider Oxwash.
Laundryheap was founded in London in 2014 by Deyan Dimitrov, Mayur Bommai and Ruxandra Lica. The team bootstrapped the business for the first three years, refining their model and plotting a path to sustainable growth, before raising strategic institutional finance in 2017. They have since rapidly expanded their global footprint. Laundryheap has raised €11.7 million in funding to date, from both VCs and Angel investors. The business employs a team of 130 people.
Laundryheap offers a range of services to B2C customers, including 24-hour door-to-door services for laundry and dry-cleaning. They also work with B2B partners across the hospitality, tourism and service industries. This has included brokering key laundry partnerships with Holiday Inn, Premier Inn, JustEat, UnderTheDoormat, Ibis, and Best Western.
