Cleaning Lab raises 22 billion won

Living Lab Co., Ltd., operator of the home-cleaning service Cleaning Lab, announced that it has raised a total of KRW 22 billion from six domestic and international investors.

New investors in the round include Korea Development Bank, DS Asset Management, Lotte Accelerator, and Hana Ventures. Existing investors Kakao Ventures, Altos Ventures, KTB Network, and Capital One also participated. The company’s cumulative funding now stands at KRW 35.5 billion.

Founded in 2017 by six people, including CEO Yeon Hyun-joo, who left Kakao’s new business division to launch the company together, Living Lab aims to transform the home-cleaning market through Cleaning Lab, a platform connecting customers with domestic helpers.

Since its launch, Cleaning Lab has focused on providing better service to customers and improving working conditions for cleaning managers. It has set itself apart from competing services by developing a technically driven “matching algorithm” that uses cleaning-manager training and customer data analysis to identify the best match.

As a result, Cleaning Lab has grown rapidly, recording 1.8 million cumulative orders and annual revenue growth of 200%. Word has spread about the working conditions and compensation for cleaning managers, a core part of the business, and the platform now has 35,000 active workers.

To ensure customer satisfaction, Cleaning Lab conducts interviews and training for all cleaning managers itself. These efforts have helped the app reach 1.7 million downloads and maintain a high rating of 4.8 out of 5 on both the App Store and Google Play.

Notably, 65% of Cleaning Lab’s customers subscribe to monthly service, and contact-free service accounts for more than 80% of usage, including among dual-income couples and single-person households.

Kakao Ventures CEO Jung Shin-ah, whose firm has participated in all three of the company’s funding rounds, said, “Cleaning Lab is transforming the market and driving growth in the domestic-helper market, which is worth KRW 8 trillion annually. The strong team has established sound service principles through manuals and training, and its operations meet customer needs. We have even greater expectations for its growth ahead.”