[NEWS] Laundry startup FlyCleaners confirms major layoffs – Loganspace

FlyCleaners, a Unusual York startup providing on-ask laundry pickup and shipping, has laid off “a mountainous number” of its workers, co-founder and CEO David Salama told TechCrunch.

This confirmsa story earlier this weekin Crain’s Unusual York reporting that FlyCleaners filed a notification with the Division of Labor outlining plans to shut its Long Island Metropolis plant and lay off 116 workers.

As Salama explained whenwe profiled him several years in the past, FlyCleaners customers can expend the mobile app at any time when they wish somebody to clutch up their laundry — the startup handles pickup and return, while the specific cleaning is handled by native corporations.

In an electronic mail in regards to the layoffs, Salama told me that the firm (whichraised a $2 million sphericalled by Zelkova Ventures support in 2013) created its own team for pickup and shipping on account of “when we started FlyCleaners six years in the past, the last-mile logistics alternate became merely now not the put apart we needed it to be in divulge to effectively service our customers.” Extra just as of late, then all yet again, the firm has been testing partnerships with other logistics corporations as a means to “complement” its own team.

“Now not too lengthy in the past, it grew to alter into distinct to us that the value of our internal team became precise too mountainous to undergo and it became starting to bog down our skill to produce strategically and to maintain and grow our industry,” Salama continued. “And so, that [led] to the painful resolution to lay off a mountainous preference of workers and to proceed as a extra asset-light group.”

He added, “We don’t wait for that this alternate will materially decrease the service we provide our customers. If the rest, by partnering with elevated-scale logistics suppliers, our service must be extra atmosphere friendly and resilient than it for the time being is.”

But when partners are handling pickups, shipping and the laundry, what doesFlyCleanersbring to the table? After I requested what the firm will center of attention on shifting forward, Salama talked about, “I clutch to be discreet about it[,] nonetheless I’m overjoyed announcing that our plot is to leverage our technology to make the most inviting customer abilities seemingly.”

He also talked about that the startup is working with its logistics partners to hunt down fresh positions for laid-off workers.