Wassup, an on-demand convenience brand co-founded by Balachandar.R and Durga Das, has recently raised lead amount for the Pre Series A of USD 2 Mn from Arun Chandra Mohan and Praveen Sinha, the founders of Jabong. With this new support, Wassup will continue to offer on-demand expediency services as well as expand focus on marketing and customer acquisition activities in Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai and also add 2 more cities – Pune & Cochin to their market presence.
The on-demand convenience industry globally is estimated at 9 Bn USD. The laundry market is estimated to be valued at INR 200,000 croresannually out of which 95% is unorganized market. Wassup offers services like laundry, dry cleaning, shoes and bag refurbishments in 3 cities currently present. The company has 30 pickup points called “Aggregating Hubs” where the garments can also be dropped off by the customer. Further, 30 Hubs will be added during the course of next 6 months. The brand vision is to be in 100 cities with a customer base of 1 Mn in the next 3 years.
Speaking to the press, Balachandar R, Co-founder & CEO, Wassup, mentioned that “We are looking to service the daily laundry requirements of middle class Indian consumers which is currently being addressed by a maid servant or by self-wash. The potential to move unorganized offline business to organized online convenience is huge. We are seeing a good opportunity and want to be the market leaders in the segment in India and are happy to have Arun and Praveen onboard with us on this journey to be the leading brand in convenience services. We will be adding additional interesting convenience services in the near future”.
Adding to this, Durga Das, Co-founder & MD, Wassup, who has 20 years of silicon valley experience behind her, mentioned that “Technology is going to be the true enabler which will foster customer delight. We have built a technology platform that integrates the Consumer app, Point of Sale, Tagging & tracking system andthe CRM solution. Additionally we are adding analytics, a marketing performance platform and an efficient logistics management to ensure the customer gets an unrivaled experience in convenience. Mobile is going to be central to our tech development”.
ArunChandra Mohan and Praveen Sinha, Jabong founders, added, “The On-Demand convenience industry is revolutionizing commercial behavior in cities around the world and the growth of the industry in India is exponential given the perennial growth in the per-capita of the country. The consumer behavior is witnessing a steady change and this is the best time to contribute in the same. We are elated to be a part of this riveting market opportunity like Wassup. It has immense potential to become a catalyst in the evolution of consumer behavior. We have bestowed our complete trust upon the model and would lend out the desired support to the co-founders for a hindrance-free growth.”
Wassup will add Personal Care, Home Care, Car Care, Pet Care and Handyman services to its portfolio through its technology platform in the near future making it a truly comprehensive managed marketplace platform for on-demand consumer convenience.
The sale will also see the addition of new brands such as Swarovski and Elite
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