Participated · Series A · Aug 2022

Oxwash provides low‑temperature commercial and on‑demand laundry using a gentle wet‑cleaning technique with biodegradable detergents, ozone disinfection and reduced water consumption, operated from centralized hub “lagoons.” The company serves both businesses and individuals, with B2B customers including hotels, hospitals, universities, hospitality and circular fashion outlets as well as individual users. Its service is available in five UK cities and it currently operates three washing facilities; Oxwash says it has 20,000+ customers, quadrupled revenue in the past 12 months and has achieved operational profitability across its three facilities. Founded in 2017, the company recently gained B Corporation status and emphasizes employee conditions (riders and couriers are fully employed and staff are paid above the national living wage). Future plans funded by the round include building a large centralized processing facility to enable nationwide U.K. coverage, launching in the U.S. and further European expansion, and investing in next‑gen automation such as acoustic drying, robotics, computer vision and AI. Oxwash employs over 80 people and expects a 50% headcount increase in the next year, and has a stated goal of eliminating scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions from operations within 12 months. Oxwash provides a sustainable on-demand laundry service that aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across collection, washing and delivery. The company uses water-saving ozone technology to sterilize fabrics at lower temperatures, thermal and biodegradable chemical processes for higher-than-medical-grade disinfection, dissolvable laundry bags and electric cargo bikes for hyper-local pickups and deliveries. Founded in 2018 by ex-NASA scientist Dr Kyle Grant and Oxford engineer Tom de Wilson, Oxwash now serves more than 8,000 individual customers and enterprise clients including the Marriott Hotel Group, Hurr Collective and the NHS. Oxwash raised an additional £2.08M in seed funding, bringing total funding to £5.2M to date. The company intends to use the funds to expand the team, invest in proprietary technology and accelerate plans for national expansion. It also participated in Collective Impact, a five-week investment-readiness program delivered by Crowdcube and Virgin StartUp for purpose-led businesses. Oxwash, founded in 2017 by former NASA scientist Kyle Grant and based in London, is a sustainable on-demand laundry and dry-cleaning startup. It uses proprietary ozone-generation technology alongside thermal and chemical processes to deliver pharmaceutical-grade disinfection and aims for zero net carbon emissions across collection, washing, and delivery. Customers include consumers, hotels, gyms, and Airbnb hosts, and the company has expanded into healthcare clients such as the NHS, GP practices, care homes, vulnerable people at home, and hotels housing key workers. Oxwash provides coronavirus (COVID-19) disinfection laundry methods and is supplying services to the Oxford University coronavirus vaccine trial. The company is using the newly raised funds to launch into London, further invest in its proprietary technology platform, and expand into North America and Europe over the next 12–18 months. Its funding position is supported by a £1.75M seed round from strategic and angel investors, and an RB Ventures executive will join the board. Oxwash applies 'space-age' sterilisation technology—combining ozone disinfection with thermal and chemical processes—to deliver medical-grade laundry services that remove bacterial, fungal and viral agents. The company says its process achieves zero carbon emissions and saves water compared with traditional laundry options. A product of Oxford University and part of Founders Factory’s accelerator, Oxwash was founded by a former NASA engineer and is led by CEO Kyle Grant. It already serves business customers including Marriott and Airbnb and partners with NHS bodies, senior care homes, hotels housing medical workers, the Oxford University coronavirus vaccine trial and general practice surgeries. During the COVID-19 pandemic Oxwash added no-contact pickups, electric-cargo bikes fitted with portable ozone generators, and dissolvable laundry bags to reduce transmission. The company raised £1.4 million and says the funding will be used to grow the team, expand across southeast England, and support software development including an app and a planned roll-out to London later this year.