Washio (company)

Last updated
Washio
Industry Laundry, Service industry
Founded2013;10 years ago (2013)
Founder Jordan Metzner, Bob Wall, Juan Dulanto
DefunctAugust 30, 2016 (2016-08-30)
FateClosed; assets purchased by Rinse
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
,
United States

Washio was an American on-demand laundry cleaning and delivery service. [1] The company was founded in 2013 by Jordan Metzner, Bob Wall, and Juan Dulanto, and raised $17 million in funding. [2]

Contents

Washio shut down operations on August 30, 2016. [3] Shortly afterward, its assets were purchased by its former competitor, Rinse. [4]

History

Washio was founded in 2013 by Jordan Metzner, Bob Wall, and Juan Dulanto, after noticing what they perceived to be an inefficiency and lack of online presence in the laundry sector. [5] The company, based in Los Angeles, received millions from investors, over multiple funding rounds. [6] [7]

Washio functioned as a middleman service, outsourcing the washing, folding, and dry cleaning to third-party facilities, while hiring so-called "ninjas" to deliver the laundry to and from homes and laundromats. [8] [7] In order to stand out from fast-growing competition (such as Rinse, FlyCleaners, and Laundry Locker), [9] Washio originally included a cookie from a local bakery with each order, but as they grew switched to including a more scalable, healthy food item: a flax crostini. [5] [8]

By the time it closed in 2016, Washio had dry cleaned over one million items of clothing, serviced six major cities across America, [2] and had delivered over 21,000 tons of laundry. [10]

Multiple reasons have been given for Washio's failure, including, among many other possible causes, its low margins, reliance on continued growth, overly-strict pick-up and delivery schedule, [3] lawsuits against its "ninjas" being classified as independent contractors, [2] outsourcing the actual washing and drying to third parties, and lack of company culture inclusion of non public-facing workers. [8]

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References

  1. ↑ Lawler, Ryan (November 22, 2013). "Uber-For-Laundry Startup Washio Uses Ninjas To Get Your Dirty Clothes Clean". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2021-10-29. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
  2. 1 2 3 Li, Shan (August 30, 2016). "On-demand laundry start-up Washio shuts down". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2021-09-20. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
  3. 1 2 Crook, Jordan (August 30, 2016). "Washio on-demand laundry service shuts down operations". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2021-10-29. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
  4. ↑ Shieber, Jonathan (October 6, 2016). "Buying Washio's assets, Rinse cleans up part of the on-demand laundry market". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2021-10-29. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
  5. 1 2 Pressler, Jessica (May 16, 2014). ""Let's, Like, Demolish Laundry"". New York Magazine . Archived from the original on 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
  6. ↑ Hu, Elise (2014-05-26). "Wash And Deliver: Startups Aim To Solve First World Problems". NPR. Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
  7. 1 2 Prindle, Drew (2014-01-15). "On-Demand Laundry Service Washio Raises $2.25M in Funding". Digital Trends . Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
  8. 1 2 3 Scott, Bartie (2016-09-02). "What On-Demand Businesses Can Learn From Washio's Critical Mistake". Inc.com. Archived from the original on 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
  9. ↑ Griswold, Alison (August 30, 2016). "The ultimate symbol of the Uber-for-X bubble is out of business". Quartz. Archived from the original on 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
  10. ↑ Kircher, Madison Malone (30 August 2016). "Uber For Laundry Startup Washio Has Washed Up". Intelligencer. Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
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