Village Laundry Service Pvt Ltd(VLS), which operates laundry kiosks under the name of Chamak, has raised an undisclosed amount in Series A financing from Kensington Capital, Index Advisory and an undisclosed private Indian investor. Village Laundry, which is backed by Innosight Ventures, will use the new round to expand its chain of laundry kiosks.
Village Laundry Service was launched in 2008 with seed capital from Innosight Ventures. It provides laundry services via self-contained booths in metropolitan areas. The service operates booths in 3 cities, including Bangalore and Mumbai, and has grown from 3 to 20 stores in less than a year.
Sushil Mungekar, co-founder of Index Advisory, is also joining Village Laundry Services as its new managing director and CEO. Mungekar has worked for 10 years with Tata Group, most recently heading car financing at Tata Motors Finance, where he worked on consolidation of vehicle financing companies and helped make the firm the largest financier of Tata cars.
“We are thrilled to partner with Kensington Capital and the other investors in this round whose investments will further enable VLS to accelerate expansion and be a leader in the fast-emerging organized retail laundry market in India. We are also excited to have Sushil on board to lead and grow VLS and its Chamak brand. Sushil Mungekar’s finance and franchising expertise and understanding of retail space will be a tremendous asset as VLS seeks to bring its laundry services to more regions throughout India," said Hari Nair, co-founder of Village Laundry Services and Venture Partner at Innosight.
There has already been an investor interest in the laundry space which was till recently a highly fragmented and local business throughout the country. Jyothy Fabricare Services, a subsidiary of Jyothy Labaratories, has raised Rs 100 crore in private equity funding from IL&FS Investment Managers last year.
Boston-based Kensington Capital Holdings is a private investment office that focuses on emerging economies like Africa, China, Indonesia, India & Latin America. Innosight Ventures is the investment arm of innovation and growth consulting firm Innosight and provides seed-stage funding and incubation.
