Spanish startup Jeff raises US$21M in the midst of COVID-19, set to launch in the U.S
MANILA, Philippines – The Spanish startup, Jeff, recently raised 21 million US dollars during COVID-19 in a Series B financing round. Jeff is the global solution for entrepreneurs that offers everything they need to start a successful business under the umbrella of its globally recognized brand. Aided by Jeff’s holistic support that includes technological business management and data intelligence tools, entrepreneurs can launch their own business choosing from the brand´s range of business lines: home-delivered laundry and dry cleaning, beauty, fitness and wellness services.
Eloi Gomez, CEO of Jeff
This financing round has been led by the funds All Iron Ventures, Alma Mundi Ventures and FJLabs; investors from companies such as Alibaba, Dropbox, Uber, and Stripe; and by the renowned entrepreneur Javier Rubio through Alcor Ocean S.L. New partners have also participated in this round, including INNVIERTE, CDTI investment vehicle; along with existing partners who continue to support the project such as the Gomez Trenor Family through Nalpa S.L and Addventure Venture Capital fund. This Series B which was achieved during COVID-19 comes after raising USD $22m in previous financing rounds.
Jeff is currently present in 40 countries in Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia; and has more than 2,300 stores sold. Investment secured during this round will be used to kickstart the launch of Jeff operations in the United States and the opening of its first office in New York in January; the consolidation of its current markets and the development of its technological product for the entrepreneurs in the Jeff network including those in the Philippines.
“Faced with the current situation caused by the pandemic, the Jeff team is very proud of this financing round which demonstrates the trust placed by our investors in the project. . We are very optimistic about the Philippines, as it is one of the markets that has recovered the fastest during the pandemic and is already presenting 17% more income than before COVID-19.”, says Eloi Gómez, CEO and co-founder of Jeff.
Not only investors, but also top-level professionals continue to believe in Jeff. Throughout the year, Marc Vicente, former COO of Rakuten Europe and Cdiscount; Carlos Vidal, former VP of Orangetheory Fitness and Dunkin Donuts; and Javier Pelayo, former VP of Marco Aldany and co-founder of Pressto have joined the company and are now part of the leadership team.
The future is ‘business in a box’
Aileen Ionescu-Somers, executive director of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), mentioned in her article “COVID-19: Lessons From Past Crises Point To A Long And Hopeful Road For Entrepreneurs“: ‘entrepreneurship will rise in the next year’, ‘when there are no jobs on the market, the only choice can be to try and muster a way of making money by creating a small business’.
As the current pandemic is expected to create a new wave of entrepreneurs and micro-entrepreneurs in 2021; Jeff positions itself as the platform for entrepreneurs with the ‘business in a box’ concept. The business in a box concept offers all you need to start a successful business under the umbrella of their globally recognized brand, as well as training, marketing tools, management software and data intelligence to optimize resources and maximize profits.
In the Philippines, entrepreneurs have embraced the digital phenomenon because more and more consumers are engaging in e-commerce and online shopping platforms, transforming the way people live and do business. This bodes well for Jeff because it is a technology-driven enterprise.
“Our solution fits all types of entrepreneurs: whether they want to own a business for self-employment reasons, or because they are looking for a profitable investment”, Gómez clarifies.
A success story based on diversification
In August 2018 Jeff acquired Lava e Leva, the largest laundry franchise in Brazil with more than 350 points of sale. With this acquisition , they successfully consolidated the most important market in Latin America and one of the largest in the world.
In June 2019, they announced the evolution of their business model worldwide: from a laundry and dry cleaning services app, to an ecosystem for day-to-day services with a mission to make people’s lives easier. This brought about a change in its corporate name, which became Jeff (from Mr Jeff) and which integrated all the business lines that the company had launched, and would launch in the future.
This evolution was also materialized thanks to two corporate operations linked to the launch of two new business lines: beauty and fitness. The acquisition of ‘Entrenarme’ was announced, as well as its ‘SpaceFit’ platform, which became part of Jeff under the name Fit Jeff. Likewise, the beauty line Beauty Jeff was developed through a collaboration agreement with Oh my Cut! Finally, in March of this year, the launch of the fourth business line, Relax Jeff, was announced.
All these services are offered to consumers in an omnichannel environment (web, app and physical point of sale) that helps them to have “The Good, Good Life”; while also giving back to neighborhoods and local businesses what digitization has taken away from them.
Jeff in the Philippines during COVID-19 and in 2021
Jeff has sold 80 Mr Jeff laundry franchises in the Philippines to date, with its laundry hubs operating in Metro Manila and in Sta. Rosa Laguna.
Because its business model features convenient and safe pick-up and delivery services through the use of an app, Mr Jeff has gained a large number of new customers during COVID-19 who would normally go to DIY laundry shops. Jeff entrepreneurs made certain that their customer’s confidence remained strong. Almost all partners have strengthened their numbers and metrics since pre-COVID.
Today, The Philippines is performing better than what was expected. The percentage of online orders is around 65-70 per cent of the total. Local franchisees are offering great service and the quality rating is outstanding at 4.8 out of 5. More laundry hubs are being set up and will open soon. The Philippine market looks forward with optimism as Jeff expands its product lines globally and hopes to see its new business models in the country in the near future.
“The Philippines was the first market we started operating in when we arrived in Asia and we want to continue to have a strong presence in a country that welcomes innovative business ideas so well. We believe that Jeff and our network of entrepreneurs will continue to grow in the Philippines.” says Eloi Gómez.
For more information visit: https://franchise.wearejeff.com.
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