SudShare, an on-demand laundry pickup, cleaning and delivery service, is expanding to Chattanooga. Described by some customers as “like Uber—but for laundry,” SudShare aims to create an easy to use, seamless digital marketplace for laundry services.
Created in 2018 by the Fertel triplets who, while trying to help their overworked mother deal with an ever-growing mountain of laundry, realized other families could also use some outside help. SudShare has quickly grown into the first truly nationwide laundry service company, with over 20,000 independent contractors now serving over 300 cities.
“I was homeschooling five kids so we had a ton of laundry,” said Ari Fertel, SudShare’s beloved resident mom. “I could tap an app and get to the airport, Facetime someone on the other side of the world, and deposit a check without going to the bank, but I was still spending hours doing laundry like my mom and grandma did. The kids wouldn’t help with the laundry, but they solved the problem for me with code.”
SudShare soon began solving problems for many more people, including disabled and immunocompromised individuals who are unable to do their own laundry or safely visit a laundromat themselves during the pandemic.
“A lot of companies, including Procter & Gamble, tried to scale the laundry service business,” said Mort Fertel, Nachshon’s father and CEO of SudShare, “but our business model allowed us to do it quicker and better.”
SudShare's business model bypassed the need for a lot of capital, equipment, and bricks and mortar, and tapped into a new gig worker community--stay at home moms (and dads) with washer/dryers.
“There are lots of gigs out there like UBER, DoorDash, and Instacart. They’re great for some people, but I like to work from home,” says Sheika Alston, a Sudster in Baltimore, Md. “SudShare is my work-from-home gig.”
SudShare is the latest example of a startup disrupting an industry with a tech platform.