How to know when an acquisition fits - by Deyan Dimitrov, CEO of LaundryHeap

Acquisitions have been integral to Laundryheap’s growth into a £27 million turnover on-demand laundry and dry cleaning service. In four years, it has acquired seven major competitors, and today it operates across 60 cities in 17 countries. "Some deals were obvious, others we walked away from. Here’s what separated them," says founder Deyan Dimitrov.

An acquisition fits when …

"They’ve already done the hard work. Do you have the risk appetite to beat an established competitor at their own game? If the answer’s no, then acquisition might be a good fit. When we acquired GetLavado in 2024, they were the biggest on-demand laundry service in Peru, with seven years of customer relationships, local operational knowledge, tech stacks and a strong market presence in Peru. Matching that from scratch would have meant years of building operations, spending heavily on marketing and earning trust customer by customer, with no guarantee we’d outcompete a company that already knew the market. Acquiring cut that risk out and allowed us to focus fully on transitioning their service to ours."

"Their customers would stay. You’re buying people’s loyalty to a service or product. A change of ownership can break that habit. Before you bid, review all the data about how strong their customer relationships are. Look at reviews and complaint patterns to see if customers are happy or just stuck, and check the repeat customer rates to assess customer loyalty. Then compare their customers with your own. High overlap on the Venn diagram means a smoother transition and a higher chance of these customers staying. Low overlap means more risk of losing them."

"You want to keep their people. One of the most valuable things in a business is often kept in the heads of its team: relationships with key accounts, what customers expect from their product or service, and how the market works in practice. If you could keep the staff and not the brand, would you still want the deal? Do they share your values and standards? If the answer’s yes, you’ve got something worth acquiring. If you don’t want or need these people, then you’re just buying assets - not a business - and what you pay should reflect that."