Revolut backer Balderton sinks £8m into detergent startup Smol
Detergent delivery startup Smol has today closed an £8m funding round, led by London venture capital giant Balderton.
The funding was supported by Jamjar Investments, the venture capital firm co-founded by the founder of Innocent Drinks.
Launched in 2018 by former Unilever employees Paula Quazi and Nick Green, Smol delivers laundry and dishwasher detergent in compact, plastic-free packaging to homes across the UK.
It currently has around 250,000 homes on its books, which it said equates to roughly 1.5m washes a week with its products.
“Having seen how the industry has barely innovated in over a hundred years we launched Smol to take the hassle out of washing for families whose laundry needs have been ignored for decades,” said Quazi.
“To give everyday people like us one less thing to worry about, while keeping a keen focus on sustainability and affordability.”
Smol said it would use the funding to expand into new product categories, having recently launched its first fabric conditioner.
It will also expand further into new markets outside of the UK, and increase the size of its team.
Suranga Chandratillake, partner at Balderton Capital, said: “Household cleaning is a great example of a product category where giant incumbents have ignored potential innovation.
“Smol has exploited that complacency, built a product people actually want and, as a result, got people excited about laundry and dishwashing all over again.”