Providence-based not-for-profit seed fund Slater Technology Fund, the most active investor of its kind in Rhode Island, invested $250,000 in Ocean State-based laundry-as-a-service company HappyNest, ultimately leading the startup's seed round, the entity announced in a statement.
HappyNest is establishing its own enterprise software, which 70 nationwide companies currently employ. Its services allow users to choose either a weekly or "by request" plan and specify laundry preferences. Then, HappyNest picks up and washes users' clothes and returns them a day later, with no delivery fee (there is a minimum order fee of $25). Its current service areas include parts of Maryland and Albany, New York.
Founded by former investment banker John MacKrell, the company looks to "disrupt the $40-billion laundry industry."
“It’s easy to build empathy with both of our customer types since we’ve walked in their shoes, and are surrounded by them on a daily basis,” MacKrell said. He's no stranger to the laundry world, having owned laundromats and developed requisite software for them — all before establishing HappyNest.
Thorne Sparkman, managing director of the Slater Technology Fund, argued that industries like these are "ripe" for the next big innovation.
"We’ve already seen digital technologies revolutionize grocery, transportation, music and many other aspects of American life, so laundry is the logical next step," he said. "What gives me confidence is working with a founder with such deep domain expertise. With that kind of opportunity and team, whatever resources and expertise Slater can mobilize is magnified. We’re excited to get started.”
Slater has worked with a host of other high-profile Rhody tech companies. Datarista, SquadLocker and MindImmune are just a few of those in its portfolio.
And, the fund's been making lots of headlines recently. Consider how wind turbine tech company Aquanis, which received seed funding from Slater, got a $1 million grant from the Department of Energy in July. Then, we reported last week that it invested in education startup GoPeer, which closed an oversubscribed seed fund of $265,000.
