Jung Sung-woo, CEO of Uisikju Company, operates 'Laundrigo,' a contactless service from ordering to laundry and delivery
Monthly growth over 30%... Gaining more attention amid COVID-19
Targeting the laundry detergent market... Plans for global expansion next year
"There is a belief that the laundry sector will bring about irreversible changes in the laundry industry and culture." This is a statement left on Facebook by Seongwoo Jo, CEO of Uisikju Company, which operates the contactless mobile laundry service 'Lundrigo,' after securing 17 billion KRW in Series B funding earlier this month. This investment proved that his belief?that laundry will create an irreversible change?is not just wishful thinking but closely connected to real business. We visited Uisikju Company's headquarters in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, to hear about CEO Jo's future vision, centered on mobile laundry transforming lifestyles.
CEO Jo said, "Using mobile laundry services will drastically reduce household chores and allow the space occupied by washing machines, dryers, and laundry to be repurposed, leading to innovations in living spaces." He suggests that mobile laundry can bring changes comparable to the washing machine, which is considered an invention that liberated women from household labor. His outlook aligns with societal changes such as the rapid increase in single-person households. As more people live alone and living spaces shrink, the demand for mobile laundry services is growing instead of purchasing washing machines.
Launched in March last year, Lundrigo has just passed its first year of service but has processed over 700,000 dry cleaning items, 2 million liters of water laundry, and 30,000 bedding items in the past year, growing at an average monthly rate of over 30%. Its advantage lies in the contactless process?from ordering to laundry and delivery completed within a day?enabled by its self-developed smart laundry collection box called 'Lundret,' eliminating the hassle of visiting laundromats directly.
Lundrigo currently operates services throughout Seoul and in the Ilsan and Pangyo areas of Gyeonggi Province. The service area is gradually expanding where there is demand. However, CEO Jo emphasizes creating a 'dense' service rather than rapid expansion. He said, "Laundry is typically done regularly about 3 to 4 times a month. Establishing touchpoints through laundry itself will become an enormous asset." He analyzes that innovation in laundry will lead to lifestyle changes, and the customer touchpoints secured through laundry can provide various business opportunities in the process.
This service of Lundrigo reflects CEO Jo's experience in founding startups and running new businesses. In 2011, he founded 'Dumb & Dumber,' pioneering dawn delivery in domestic commerce in 2013. After selling the company to Woowa Brothers in 2015, he served as CEO of Baemin Fresh. CEO Jo explained, "The experience of creating the first dawn delivery model in Korea and operating in a situation without systems or culture became an asset."
Lundrigo has also gained attention as a representative contactless (untact) service during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, CEO Jo stated that contactless was not the 'theme' but a 'means' to move the existing laundry industry to mobile. He explained, "We considered bringing the laundry industry, which relies 99% on offline stores, to mobile. We realized that face-to-face methods could not achieve scalability and wide reach, so we created the current contactless model." This means they had been preparing untact business for laundry industry innovation even before COVID-19. Regarding the rise of untact due to COVID-19, CEO Jo said, "In a situation where COVID-19 is a constant rather than a variable, contactless methods inevitably become a major choice. Contactless is not the trend or the only answer; rather, the industry itself must move to mobile, and in an era where COVID-19 is constant, contactless gains attention depending on the business."
In particular, Lundrigo is not only mobilizing the existing 4.5 trillion KRW dry cleaning-centered laundry market but also expanding the market by handling water laundry?mainly washed directly at home?through untact services. CEO Jo said, "Water laundry can target the entire population, so within 10 years, the market will be larger than dry cleaning."
After establishing the domestic market, he plans to enter overseas markets. He believes there is no business more advantageous for globalization and localization than laundry. Especially, Korea’s successful COVID-19 response, known as 'K-quarantine,' is expected to have a positive impact. CEO Jo said, "The quality of laundry desired by Americans is not different from that desired by Koreans. We have received inquiries from the U.S., China, Japan, and even domestic large corporations. We plan to enter the global market around the second half of next year."
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