Deyan Dimitrov, GEM MIB 2012, Founder & CEO of Laundryheap, the world's leading on-demand laundry service

Deyan Dimitrov, GEM MIB 2012, is Founder & CEO of Laundryheap, one of the world's fastest growing tech startups.

 What is Laundryheap?

Available in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia, Laundryheap is the world’s leading on-demand laundry and dry cleaning service. The company has been featured in prestigious publications such as Business Insider and The Telegraph and is ranked one of the fastest growing tech companies in Europe, coming in 18th in the UK (Deloitte) and 73rd in Europe (FT2020). 

Before founding Laundryheap in 2014, Deyan previously worked in business development and e-commerce. He came up with the idea for Laundryheap one fateful evening in 2014 which saw him haplessly standing outside a closed dry-cleaners, having missed his collection slot. “With an event to attend the next day and my suit on the wrong side of the doors, I was frustrated by the lack of alternative options available.” So as a result, he decided to create one. 

Since launching in London in 2014, the company has washed over 20 million items of clothing and seen active users grow 450% per year. The company also raised £2.9 million in funding from a combination of angel and venture capital backed funds. 

But it didn’t start out that way. 

Humble beginnings

In the early years, Laundryheap was a bootstrap start-up, meaning the brand started with no external funding, just Deyan’s own personal funds. “We had low overheads and I didn’t take a salary when the company first started. I was insistent that we shouldn’t accept external funding until we were sure our business model was solid… It can seem as though VC funding is the only way to get a startup off the ground, and I’m glad Laundryheap shows that success can be sought through other means.” 

Deyan states that differentiation has been the key to his success. Currently the only app of its kind to offer a guaranteed 24-hour turnaround, the streamlined process enables them to meet modern consumer expectations, retain loyalty, and ultimately become market leaders. “We offer a door-to-door service, which means that upon scheduling a collection slot with us via our app or website, we’ll collect, wash, iron, and return laundry items within a guaranteed 24 hours…It’s not by chance that the majority of our business is repeat customers.” 

Doing good in the world

Laundryheap has helped a range of communities, especially during the pandemic when people needed it the most. They created care packages of cleaning essentials for the elderly who didn’t have access to basic items such as soap, toothpaste and bleach during the pandemic, and made these packages available to pay-it-forward, with matched gifting. they also worked closely with charities and brands to offer free accommodation to NHS workers during the pandemic so that they didn’t have to travel far to get to work and meant that they could get their laundry cleaned for free. 

“After such a difficult year, our aim is to make life that little bit easier for people, by helping out and taking laundry off of peoples’ plates. We’ve got big plans for the coming months and years.” 

We can’t wait to see what they are! Congratulations to Deyan and his team on their success. 

Excerpts taken from an interview published by Dana Leigh for TechRound. Read the full interview here.