UClean Enters Into Home Cleaning Sector, Launches Mint Clean With $1 Mn Funding

Faridabad-based integrated laundry services providing startup UClean has forayed into the home cleaning segment with its new subsidiary Mint Clean. Mint Clean will operate as an on-demand direct-to-home cleaning and home health company, which will offer door to door cleaning solutions through a “man and van” model.

Mint Clean brand was officially launched in January this year and has commenced pilot operations from Delhi NCR. It also recently raised $1 Mn in initial funding from UClean’s existing backer Franchise India, and Anubhav Chopra, an angel investor based out of The US.

Mint Clean further plans to use these funds to create a tech platform for the business, which predominantly is B2B2B and B2B2C in nature. It also aims to use these funds to recruit suitable franchises and lead them through marketing.

As Arunabh Sinha, Founder and CEO, UClean said, “Mint Clean is a model that we developed basis the feedback and encouragement that we received from our UClean customers. Like UClean, we would be building Mint Clean through the franchise route and would be targeting 100 franchises of Mint Clean by 2020.”

Gaurav Marya, Chairman, Franchise India also added, “This is a watershed event for the innovation ecosystem in the home cleaning vertical. I always believe, businesses generated out of customer demands are the ones that really work well. I am happy to be part of this journey of Mint Clean.”

Founded in November 2016 by Arunabh Sinha, UClean majorly focuses on fostering the Do It Yourself (DIY) culture in India. The startup offers its customers an option to wash their clothes at their nearest UClean outlet, according to their convenience. The target audience for the company is nuclear and DINK (Double Income No Kids) families.

The company also offers pick and drop services for dry cleaning, laundry, and iron services.

Earlier in November 2016, UClean raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding from Franchise India. The company had then aimed to develop UClean into a 500+ laundromats chain over the next five years.

At present, UClean with its brand service, Mint Clean, competes with startups like Zimmber, LocalOye, Taskbob, Bro4u, Timesaverz and Amazon-backed HouseJoy among others.

According to a couple of reports, the Indian Laundry Industry is estimated at $33 Bn (INR 2,20,000 Cr), of which the unorganised market (dhobis, maid servants, and mom-and-pop stores) valued at $771 Mn (INR 5,000 Cr).

The sector is fragmented with 7,67,000 establishments, 98% of which are micro-sized laundries with fewer than 10 workers. The organised segment comprises a mere 2-3% of the entire laundry market in India.

In this growing hyperlocal services market, will Mint Clean be able to raise the service bar as per the current service standards of UClean, will be worth looking for.