#Asia WaHome scores US$1M in seed funding to clean more houses in Korea

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On-demand house cleaning service WaHome wants to further expand within South Korea, then hit up markets like Hong Kong and Japan

Image Credit: Catt Liu/ Shutterstock

Image Credit: Catt Liu/ Unsplash

South Korean apartment cleaning service WaHome has received US$1 million in a seed investment from Sparklabs Global Ventures, Mashup Angels, Fast Track Asia and two individuals: Gabriel Fong, former Chairman, GoGoVan; and actor-turned-businessman Bae Yong-joon, according to TechCrunch.

The funds will be used to help WaHome boost its engineering team, roll out new features meant for its app on the iOS and Google Play Store, and further expand in South Korea.

Founded in May 2015, WaHome is a mobile-only service that connects people to house cleaners. The company charges around US$40 per session – which is about four hours of cleaning, as noted by the same report.

The session length varies according to the size of the house; for example, a one-room apartment will take three to four hours to clean, while a large apartment will take five to six hours instead.

Also Read: Home services in great demand in India but low frequency dogs startups

 

At the moment, all earnings are being passed on to the cleaners, who are better regarded as contractors than employees, but there are plans to up prices after getting a better grip on the market.

WaHome claims to have access to approximately 350 contractors in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. The company intends to expand into other Korean cities, and subsequently, after securing more market share, increase the number of services it offers. WaHome is also looking at other markets like Hong Kong and Japan.

John Lee, Co-founder, WaHome, said that the startup is looking for “new cleaners and making sure they are satisfied with the amount of work they are getting.” He added, “As we comply more data, we’ll put it into our algorithm and stagger demand for different areas.”

Lee and his other Co-founder Edward Hahn aim to give each contractor at least eight sessions of work every week.

WaHome also claims to have 1,200 users on the platform, of which 50 per cent are booking the services of one cleaner every week.

The post WaHome scores US$1M in seed funding to clean more houses in Korea appeared first on e27.

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