Washio, the on-demand laundry startup that launched in 2013, has today announced that it will shutter its service.
In a letter posted to the website, Washio founders announced that the company will shut down operations, effective immediately. No new orders will go through the service, and outstanding orders will be returned to customers promptly.
You can read the full shut-down letter below.
Sources told TechCrunch that Washio was shopping itself around to various competitors that might be interested in an acquisition, but it appears that none of those conversations came to fruition.
According to CrunchBase, Washio raised a total of $16.82 million in funding across four rounds from investors like Canaan Partners, AME Venture Partners, and notable angel investors such as Ashton Kutcher and Nas.
When Washio originally launched, it offered a service that would pick up users’ laundry or dry cleaning at a scheduled time, sometimes as early as 24 hours from the time of the order placement. In 2015, the company launched Washio Now, guaranteeing a pick-up within an hour of ordering, with a 24-hour turnaround time on clothes.
Washio grew to service Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, New York, and Washington D.C.
Unfortunately, the on-demand economy is one that usually yields low margins and requires rapid growth and expansion to make up the cost of laying down territory. Washio isn’t the only company that has suffered on-demand growing pains — Handy cleaning service had some tough times last year, and Homejoy shut down entirely.
On top of that, Washio has seen fierce competition over the past few years from the likes of Flycleaners in NYC, Rinse, and Cleanly, which is already operational in New York and launching in D.C. in the next few weeks.
Here is Washio’s letter to customers:
We reached out to Washio for comment but they have not responded.

