DoorMint

DoorMint, operating under Blackcotton Solutions Pvt. Ltd., was established in Mumbai in 2014 by three IIT alumni: Abhinav Agarwal (IIT Bombay), Naman Lahoty (IIT Bombay), and Piyush Ranjan (IIT Kanpur). The founders were motivated by their own frustrating experiences in securing reliable and professional handyman services in a major city like Mumbai. Agarwal, an alumnus of IIT Bombay with prior experience as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, served as the CEO. Lahoty, also an IIT Bombay graduate with early experience at Flipkart, took on the role of COO. Ranjan, an IIT Kanpur graduate, served as the CTO.

The company launched in January 2015, initially offering a broad range of on-demand home services including electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and appliance repair through its mobile app and online platform. The business model focused on providing a branded, full-stack service, taking complete responsibility for service delivery, punctuality, and quality, which differentiated it from simple marketplaces. It aimed to serve time-pressed, tech-savvy urban consumers by offering transparent, upfront pricing and a post-service warranty, all bookable with a single tap on their app.

In its first year, DoorMint secured two rounds of funding. An initial angel round from Powai Lake Ventures in April 2015 was followed by a significant Series A funding of $3 million in August 2015, co-led by Helion Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital. This capital was earmarked for strengthening its Mumbai operations and expanding into other major Indian cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, and Bengaluru. However, the company soon encountered challenges in maintaining service quality across multiple disparate verticals. This led to a strategic pivot in September 2015, where DoorMint narrowed its focus exclusively to on-demand laundry and dry-cleaning services. Despite this shift and initial claims of strong monthly growth, the company struggled with the unit economics of the laundry business, citing high costs for logistics and processing that were difficult to recoup from customers.

By July 2016, DoorMint had ceased operations in Bangalore and Gurgaon and ultimately shut down all services in September 2016 due to the inability to raise further funding and achieve profitability. In April 2017, the assets of DoorMint, including its technology, infrastructure, and client base, were acquired by Chennai-based laundry service Wassup in an equity-swap deal. This transaction resulted in DoorMint's investors, Helion Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital, gaining equity in Wassup.

Keywords: DoorMint, on-demand home services, laundry service, Abhinav Agarwal, Naman Lahoty, Piyush Ranjan, Mumbai startup, Helion Venture Partners, Kalaari Capital, home solutions, mobile laundry app, online laundry service, Wassup acquisition, Indian startup, consumer services, Blackcotton Solutions, hyperlocal services, home maintenance, appliance repair, laundry marketplace, startup shutdown