Delfi about WiseClean

Startup WiseClean: cleaning an apartment for less than 40 euros, ordering cleaning services in three clicks and helping Ukrainians

The founder of the WiseClean startup and a participant in the Technopol start-up incubator program, Vlad Belopolsky, together with his partner Peter Zashev, not only made cleaning services as accessible as possible for any resident of Tallinn, but also helps citizens of Ukraine, who fled the war earn decent money. In addition, the startup is successfully attracting investments right now.

Like many startups, WiseClean was born at the moment when it became clear that ordering an apartment cleaning is not so easy.

Vlad also tried to do it, but clutched his head from how difficult the process turned out to be.

“You are either asked to place an order two weeks in advance, or the company does not have the opportunity to come clean the apartment at the time that the client needs, or an additional payment is taken for a convenient time for the client, or they even offer a manager’s visit first in order to, roughly speaking, evaluate the thickness of the fat on the plate and then voice the price offer. No, this is not good, I thought, I analyzed the market, found like-minded people and launched an app designed to simplify the order of cleaning services as much as possible,” said Vlad Belopolsky.

WiseClean is a platform like Bolt, only for ordering not pizza or taxis, but… house cleanings.

Using the platform is very convenient: you need to download the app, verify your phone number, and then take just three steps to choose a convenient time and day, get a price and pay for the service, relax and win a few hours that would have to be spent cleaning your apartment, entrusting this matter to specialists.

Pricing is transparent, it does not depend on the footage of the apartment, but only on the number of residential spaces and bathrooms. The minimum cleaning fee is 39 euros. When ordering regular cleaning discounts are provided.

 “Our pricing is transparent, the client immediately sees the price in the process of placing an order, and the cleaning itself can be “assembled” as a constructor, adding separate options to the basic cleaning - for example, washing windows, microwaves, ovens, refrigerators, etc. And at the end of the formation of the order, the final invoice is issued to the client, which he immediately pays.

The main users of WiseClean are individuals. It is important to take into account that the project does not deal with neglected apartments, offering only a maintenance cleaning service.

Despite the fact that WiseClean cooperates with independent contractors, all of them are verified and trained, in addition, the platform controls the quality of cleaning. Vlad Belopolsky explains that all work done through the WiseClean platform is insured, so clients don't have to worry about accidental property damage.

The app has been running since October, and within 5 months, users have registered more than 700 accounts on the WiseClean platform, and cleaners perform more than 15 cleanings a week.

“Our monthly turnover is more than 3,000 euros,” says Belopolsky. “We, like any startup, are constantly improving our product, publishing updates with improvements about once every two weeks, testing hypotheses, etc. We are growing by an average of 20% from week to week, both in revenue and in the number of orders.”

So far, WiseClean provides services only to residents of the capital, but in the near future it plans to expand to Tartu and, possibly, Narva. “Our goal is to reach a turnover of 20,000 euros by the end of the year and prepare to enter large markets. The next goals we have set for ourselves are Lisbon and Barcelona. But it will be a goal for the next year,” shares his plans the founder of the startup.

"Green" idea and social responsibility

Interesting fact: WiseClean-powered cleaners mostly travel by public transport. “Because we give out inventory in a convenient bag on wheels. Our idea is that the cleaner can work without a car. Firstly, in this way we reduce our carbon footprint, and secondly, we minimize the barrier for those who start working. Unlike other platforms, a cleaner does not need any technical means to start working with us,” said Vlad Belopolsky.

Another peculiarity of WiseClean: more than 80% of employees are citizens of Ukraine.

“This is one of the ideas why I decided to launch this startup: social responsibility, helping people affected by the war. We help them get a decent additional income. This does not mean that others cannot work for us, of course they can, we have no restrictions, but due to the way we place our recruitment ads, mostly people from Ukraine come to us.

When launching the platform, one of the main challenges for us was the language barrier between the client and the cleaner. We found a solution - we made sure that the cleaner's task did not include communication with the client. All orders are made through our application, and all details and features of the order are discussed with our technical support in Estonian or English. The cleaner focuses only on cleaning.

We are convinced that this approach really works, and our customers are satisfied with it. However, we always welcome when our cleaners speak Estonian and other languages, and we are happy to cooperate with such specialists.”

As mentioned above, the founder of the platform, Vlad Belopolsky, was joined by his friend and professor at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Peter Zashev.

“Peter became the first investor in our company, and in addition to the two of us, our startup has a group of consultants. We plan to expand the team, prepare the product and technology for scaling and launching in large markets. To do this, we are now collecting an investment round from private investors and funds and have already closed first deals.”

This article is a translation of an original article published by Delfi.