Presso designs and distributes robotic dry-cleaning kiosks that it leases to hotels, real estate firms and other businesses under a hardware-as-a-service model. The company takes a revenue share with partners and lets clients adjust the share based on their upfront payment. After a 2020 pivot that briefly targeted film productions, Presso has refocused on hospitality and real-estate customers and reports more than 80 bookings. The startup has developed its own greener cleaning fluid with chemical engineers and may license that fluid to third parties in the future. Presso is a small team based in Atlanta, currently with 14 employees and plans to grow to roughly 20–25 people in the next year. The new funding will be used to scale the product and expand distribution of its kiosks. Presso is an Atlanta-based startup that has developed a robotic kiosk capable of dry cleaning a garment in around five minutes. The company says its latest generation can clean and disinfect up to 150 costumes a day, a capability that has driven interest from studios as production resumes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Presso initially targeted business travelers with plans to install machines in hotel hallways and is currently piloting vending machines at midwestern hotels. The startup shifted much of its focus to film and TV production during the pandemic, and Netflix, HBO, Apple TV, FOX, Disney and Hulu have all approached the company about its technology. The company plans to spend recent funding on scaling up manufacturing and to double headcount over the next six months. Its fundraising position and studio interest position it to service production-related clothing disinfecting needs while retaining the option to refocus on hotels as travel recovers. Presso is an Indiana-based startup that builds compact dry-cleaning vending machines designed to sit in hotel hallways. Guests swipe a card and manually enter garment specifics; the kiosk then cleans and presses items in around five minutes using steam and cleaning fluids. The system uses considerably less water and electricity than traditional washing, though stains remain a blind spot and are not addressed by the machine. The company is piloting its kiosks in 16 Midwestern hotels, including several Holiday Inns, and some locations are already considering full deployment. Future updates plan to add AI and computer vision to identify clothes automatically rather than relying on user entry. So far Presso has raised $261,000, primarily from HAX, and its founders say they will seek additional fundraising later this year.

Total raised

$10M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Jan 2023