New Delhi-based Laundrymate, an online laundry start-up founded by BigBasket’s co-founder Abhinay Chaudhari, has raised $6.25 million in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Blume Founders Fund. Multiple high-net-worth-individuals (HNIs) like Ankit Bhati (co-founder of ride-hailing start-up Ola), Deepak Goyal (managing partner, BCG, USA), and Charudatta Deshpande (managing director of Clix Capita) also joined participated in this round. Additionally, Jignesh Bhate (chief executive of Molecular Connections), Karan Singh (co-founder of Trilegal) and Sandeep Gupta (managing director of Broad Peak Investment Advisors) also contributed to this round. 

The company will utilise the fund to fortify its presence in Bengaluru, the only city, where it operates. Additionally, it has plans to expand its services across other cities in India. It will scale its operations in Gurugram sometime, next year. 

After this Pre-Series A round, it has plans to raise $10-15 million in a Series A funding round in the coming six to nine months. It is also aiming to achieve an annual run rate (ARR) of $1 billion. 

“I wanted to solve the laundry chore for millions of Indian households to save the unproductive time currently being spent on this activity. We have got tremendous response from our customers and this fundraise will help us scale up fast to become the leader and a preferred laundry brand in Bangalore in the next 6-9 months,” Abhinay Chaudhari, the co-founder said. 

“Our mission is to roll out our services across 30 cities in the next 10 years and to achieve an annual revenue run rate of $1 billion by 2033. Very soon we will be raising $10 million to $15 million in our Series A round to fund our national expansion,” he added. 

“We have had a strong belief in the untapped potential of the 'Industrialisation of laundry' for everyday consumers,” Sarita Raichura, the lead at Blume Ventures, added. 

The Indian laundry industry is expected to grow to $15 billion by 2025 from $11.9 billion in 2019.