Shark Tank Australia recap: The Laundry Lady cleans up with record-breaking $1 million deal

When technical troubles hit Sunshine Coast business The Laundry Lady on Tuesday night, temporarily sending its website offline, it was no crisis for founder Susan Toft.

Surrounded by loved ones, Toft was busy watching the latest episode of Shark Tank Australia, in which her business secured a $1 million handshake deal.

If anything, the website outage was another cause for celebration: it was caused by a rush of new customers, eager to secure their own laundry-on-demand booking.

“To finally get to share exactly what happened with my staff, and my family, my friends, was just amazing,” Toft told SmartCompany on Wednesday, months after filming took place.

“Even our website crashing… obviously, we don’t want it to crash,” she continued.

“But it was just such a big sign of how much interest there actually was.”

The Laundry Lady, founded by Toft in 2012, is a platform providing busy households, businesses, and residential facilities with laundry pick-up services.

It connects customers to independent contractors working under The Laundry Lady banner, who now collect, wash, iron, and deliver loads of laundry to clients nationwide.

Seeking funds to build out its platform and hopefully expand overseas, Toft brought the business before Shark Tank Australia, hoping for a $750,000 cash injection in return for a 10% stake in the business.

Toft pointed to estimated 2023 revenues of $3.8 million, and net profitability, as proof of The Laundry Lady’s success so far.

It was a significant ask and one of the biggest pitches heard on Shark Tank Australia to date.

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Yet recent successes including a Sunshine Coast Business Award win, and becoming a Queensland state finalist in the 2022 Telstra Best of Business Awards, had prepared her for the occasion.

“Once I got in there and started my pitch, and then got into the questions, I actually really relaxed,” Toft said.

Some members of the Tank were already across the details: Davie Fogarty said his friends have raved about the service The Laundry Lady provides.

Even so, a high barrier for entry — and the potential for further investment to ward off future competitors — deterred four of five Sharks, including Fogarty.

That left Robert Herjavec, who countered Toft’s offer with a pledge to invest $1 million in return for 30% of the business.

The deal proved a winner, making The Laundry Lady party to the largest deal established in the ongoing Shark Tank Australia season.

It was “real validation of how hard I’ve worked, and what I’ve built,” Toft said.

“It was an amazing moment. I’m still still in shock even months later.”

The deal is still in the due diligence phase, Toft said but made clear that Herjavec is providing guidance to the operation.

Anticipating a spike in interest coinciding with the episode’s airing, Herjavec’s team advised The Laundry Lady to bolster its server capacity ahead of time.

Even that did not shield the business from an onslaught of digital visitors, although the site is now back online and fully operational.

Next on the business’ laundry list: moving to a wholly bespoke digital platform, and expanding overseas, including its first foray into the New Zealand market.

“It’s really exciting getting that all setup, and we’re really ready to go,” Toft said.

The Laundry Lady was not the only business to secure a handshake deal on the show.

Tween entrepreneurs Myla Tucker and Olivia Lorenz, founders of the swimwear line Cinnamon Cove, secured a provisional deal from Fogarty and Catriona Wallace valued at $80,000.

The deal put the investors on track to share a 33% stake in the enterprise while expanding Shark Tank Australia‘s support for the nation’s youngest founders.

Kat Hanzalek, co-founder of Get Down, also walked away with a sizeable handshake deal.

Get Down is a high-end line of condoms marketed to the female consumer, filling a market gap left by brands that overwhelmingly market their products to male users.

Pitching Get Down contraceptives and their savvy packaging as an alternative to existing options, Hanzalek overcame concerns about sales to date to secure a $160,000 investment.

The deal split 40% equity in the business between Sabri Suby and June Lu, with the investors receiving a royalty for each sale.

Read more about Shark Tank Australia here.