Washlava Spins a New Way To Pay for, And Use, Laundry Services

Consumers have a new way to get, and pay for, clean clothes with the debut of Washlava.

As announced this week, Washlava offers consumers a smart-phone app they can use to reserve washers and dryers, and then pay for that use. The service, another indicator of the increasing incidence of the Internet of Things, is in tests at the University of Florida.

The service was born out of Washlava’s founder and chief executive Todd Belveal’s experience as a new owner of a laundromat. “Before he could renovate and re-fleet it, the store was robbed and the change machines were ripped out of the wall,” Jamie Sewell, Washlava’s chief marketing officer, says via email. “Todd was quickly realizing that running a coin-operated laundromat was not as easy as it seemed because there was no easy way to engage and market to his customers, no visibility into machine cycles and errors, and of course, challenges with managing quarters and cash.” Belveal was co-founder of Silvercar Inc., an app-only rental-car service that only used Audi vehicles. Audi is now buying the company.

After reviewing existing options, Belveal decided to develop his own laundry app, Sewell says. “Our vision is to create a connected network of laundry equipment across dorms, apartments, and laundromats that provides a consistent, convenient experience for the 19 million households without in-unit washers, and a more profitable, automated laundry ownership experience,” she says.

It works like this. After downloading the iOS or Android app, the user enrolls with a name, phone number, email address, and password. Users must add a credit, debit, or prepaid card to the account to reserve and pay for machine use. Payments are made as needed; Washlava does not store funds in a wallet. Eventually, Washlava will offer digital-wallet integration, Sewell says.

Users can then locate a nearby Washlava-equipped machine to reserve use. Because the machines are connected to the Web, they can issue status updates. Notifications from the app indicate when a machine is ready for use.

To pay, the user holds the phone in front of the machine and taps the “pay” button that appears in the app, Sewell says, or she can type a three-digit number into the app. Once the payment, which is processed via Stripe, is authorized, she can select the machine cycle and press start. “There are no quarters, cash, or laundry cards used to transact payments – it is all mobile-based to enable a seamless, simple user experience,” Sewell says.

While Washlava’s mobile payments capability is essential to the service, it’s not the only priority, Sewell says. “We believe creating an app just for payments is a flawed strategy because payments on its own does not create an experience,” she says. “We know that users want to maximize their time and have a more convenient laundry experience, which is why they’re able to see machine availability, make machine reservations, and receive notifications when their laundry is finished. Mobile payments are at the core of our service, but it’s really just one component of a much larger strategy.”

Current plans call for expanding Washlava to approximately 20 markets with a high number of college students or a strong millennial density, Sewell says.