QSW raises USD 5.15M from Japan-based Elan Corporation

Linen management firm Quick Smart Wash (QSW) Private Limited has raised $5.15 million from Japan-based Elan Corporation. It plans to raise $ 10 million in Series C round.

It has set up and run its processing units in Jaipur, Manipal-Udupi, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Jalandhar-Amritsar. According to the company, in the current financial year, the brand plans to set up a CPU in Kochi, Kannur, Chennai, and Ahmedabad, reaching nine states in the country.

The funds will help expand capacity from the existing 35 tonnes per day (processing 100,000 or fewer clothes daily) to almost 55 tonnes per day (processing 165,000 pieces every day) within this financial year, said the company in a release.

In addition, it also has a plan to launch an inventory management system, thus digitising the entire ecosystem of inventory management.

“We are a complete end-to-end linen management service for hospitals in India. We plan to augment our strength in the areas of research and development, especially in catching future trends and delivering high and affordable quality service to the market,” said Rakesh Sharma, Managing Director of Quick Smart Wash Private Limited.

The market size for the segment currently served by Quick Smart Wash, i.e., healthcare, educational institutes, and the hospitality sector, would account for nearly $4 billion annually . The overall laundry market in India as a whole accounts for $15 billion per year, including B2B and B2C segments.

Hideharu Sakurai, Chairman and CEO of Elan Corporation, said, “Given its track record for tremendous work, Quick Smart Wash has huge potential in the linen rental business to accommodate India’s emerging market needs. We foresee a big synergy to work together; therefore, we have decided to make an investment.”

Quick Smart Wash has the plan to raise additional capital before the IPO to make a presence across India in the coming years and target capturing a 10 per cent share of the hospital linen management sector, increasing its processing capabilities to 200 tonnes per day, i.e., almost 600,000 pieces per day, with its presence in almost 15 states across the country. The Hindu BusinessLine