A new laundry delivery service promising to return freshly cleaned and folded clothes in as little as four hours launched in Santa Monica on Dec. 3, backed by artificial intelligence technology and $4.2 million in funding.
NoScrubs, founded in 2024, recently secured $2 million in its latest funding round from Initialized Capital with participation from Frontier Ventures, bringing its total pre-seed funding to $4.2 million. The company plans to use the capital to expand its AI quality control systems, clothing data algorithms, robotics and autonomous delivery capabilities.
The mobile-first wash-and-fold platform already operates in Austin, Houston, Dallas and Miami, with Los Angeles marking its latest expansion. The service picks up, cleans, folds and returns laundry with same-day turnaround on most orders, offering subscription plans starting at less than $1 per day.
"In practical terms, that means anyone who values their time above $10 per hour will never have to do laundry again," said Matt O'Connor, co-founder and CEO of NoScrubs. "NoScrubs is faster, is more affordable, and is higher quality than doing laundry yourself."
The company distinguishes itself from competitors through its integration of AI at multiple stages of the laundry process. The technology translates complex customer instructions into step-by-step checklists for "Scrubbers," the gig workers who handle the actual laundry tasks.
Throughout each order, NoScrubs collects images and videos that AI systems analyze in real time. If a drop-off photo doesn't match the pickup location, Scrubbers receive immediate alerts to confirm the correct address. When clothes are unpacked, AI itemizes each garment to ensure nothing goes missing. The system even evaluates folding quality, automatically flagging subpar work and alerting workers which items need improvement.
When AI detects potential errors such as weight mismatches or imperfect folding, both the Scrubber and a live operations team receive alerts, allowing human intervention before orders return to customers.
"Our live operations team also gets an alert and can intervene to ensure the order is perfect before getting back to the customer," O'Connor said. The approach has helped NoScrubs achieve a 4.9 rating on Google.
O'Connor emphasized speed and price as the company's main competitive advantages. Traditional laundry services require customers to drop off clothes at physical locations or wait multiple days for delivery, he said.
"When you need to do laundry, you don't want to wait multiple days for it to be done," O'Connor said.
The company partners primarily with local laundromats, providing additional revenue during slow periods when facilities are underutilized. NoScrubs also plans to work with residential properties to offer the service as an amenity and with other local organizations requiring laundry services.
O'Connor envisions a dramatic shift in how Americans handle laundry within five years. He predicts most people will outsource the chore, eliminating the need for personal washing machines and changing residential real estate design. Autonomous vehicles and delivery robots would handle transportation, while robots would assist humans with folding.
"Within five years, laundry will seem like an old-school chore as most people outsource their laundry," O'Connor said. "All of these factors will drive down the cost of NoScrubs to the point where the only customers doing their own laundry are the unique folks that proactively enjoy the chore — a very small portion of people."
The company's stated mission is to "make laundry obsolete," drawing comparisons to how food delivery services like DoorDash transformed consumer behavior around restaurant meals.
The service is currently available to Santa Monica residents through the NoScrubs mobile app.