ZipJet, which claims to have washed 30,000 shirts in London and Berlin, has chosen Dublin to kickstart its global expansion.
Berlin-headquartered ZipJet – a kind of Uber for laundry services – has selected Dublin as the first city for its global expansion.
ZipJet, which until now only operated in London and Berlin, will be the first on-demand laundry service to launch in Ireland and will first serve postal codes Dublin 1 to Dublin 8 and plans to expand to other areas.
The move will involve ZipJet forging alliances with local launderettes and will also mean potential jobs for drivers to deliver freshly laundered and pressed clothes to punters.
A spokesperson said that the company is busy getting the structure set up in Dublin and explained that the operation has five full-time staff and four drivers so far. He said the company will interview and hire more people as demand increases.
Rocket Internet-backed ZipJet was founded by Florian Faerber and Lorenzo Franzi in 2014 and so far claims to have washed 30,000 shirts in London and Berlin.
Other Rocket Internet-supported companies like Zalando and Groupon International are big employers in Dublin. Publicly-listed Rocket, which was established by three brothers Marc, Oliver and Alexander Samwer in 2007, has actively incubated numerous technology companies and fosters ambitions to become as big as Amazon in the US or Alibaba in China.
Zalando, for example, recently announced 200 data science and engineering jobs for Dublin.
ZipJet, a driver of the on-demand economy
ZipJet’s main HQ in Berlin employs 40 people and the company has an operational centre in London where 15 more people are employed.
“Simply put, ZipJet picks up your laundry and brings it back clean and pressed,” Faerber said.
“You can book a pickup on your smartphone or online, select your preferred time and at that moment you’ll be met by one of our drivers.
“The clothes will be returned within 48 hours, leaving you with more time to enjoy life, weekends, family and friends.”
Co-founder Lorenzo Franzi added: “We just passed the nine-month mark. ZipJet was originally launched in London before expanding to Berlin. In the meantime, we’re grown into Europe’s leading on-demand laundry service.
“For example, we’re washing over 30,000 shirts a month in both our markets. For us to be in a position where we’re not only surviving, but also thriving and expanding, well, that’s exciting for us. We’re confident the Dublin market will view ZipJet with the same enthusiasm as our customers in Berlin and London.”
Laundry image via Shutterstock
