Wed, 19 Feb 2020 | BUSINESS SALE
Laundrapp, an on-demand laundry service which was touted as the “Uber of dry cleaning”, has been acquired by Inc & Co Group after going into administration last week.
It was founded in 2015 and provided laundry and dry cleaning services via an app, which clothing collected from customers before being cleaned and returned.
The company went into administration on Friday, with its investors, including Michael Spencer (who invested almost £2 million) and Hambro Perks (which invested around £1.5 million), losing their investments in the start-up.
Investors poured over £15 million into Laundrapp over successive funding rounds, but cash flow difficulties saw the company forced into entering administration after investors declined to invest further capital.
Laundrapp appointed corporate restructuring firm FRP Advisory as administrator, with the company’s assets subsequently sold off for reportedly under £1 million.
FRP Advisory said the business would continue trading following the sale, adding: “Laundrapp had suffered unsustainable cash flow pressures in recent months after the reserves of the business had been exhausted and further investment from existing shareholders was not forthcoming.”
Alastair Massey, joint administrator, said Laundrapp “had run into financial difficulty in recent months and without further investment would have been forced to cease trading”.
Last year, Laundrapp had acquired Zipjet, a move that helped to significantly increase its market share.
Regarding the future of the business, Laundrapp aims to capitalise on the continuing exponential growth of the on-demand laundry sector, which is projected to reach worldwide sales of $52 billion by 2022, by launching a new growth strategy.
This will reportedly include a new digital offering of its website and app as well as a high-level customer acquisition and retention strategy.
The business operates in the UK with an international presence and specialises in providing comprehensive recruitment solutions to customers in the technical sector.
The company has traded for 16 years, based in the Northwest and operating nationally providing temporary staff to large corporate clients.
The company is a well-established confined space and draining specialist, experienced in working in the water, wastewater, manufacturing, facilities management and food and drink sector.
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