See what Baton Rouge business was honored by Pharrell Williams

A Baton Rouge on-demand laundry company received a $75,000 investment from Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition, a nonprofit initiative dedicated to supporting Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs by closing the wealth gap in venture capital. 

Suds Laundry Services, launched in 2019, was one of 36 finalists for funding at last week’s third-annual Black Ambition award ceremony in New York City. Over 2,000 companies applied for the honor from the producer and songwriter known for the 2013 hit “Happy.”

“I haven’t really gotten the chance to soak it all in,” co-founder and CEO Chris Hilliard says. 

The same night as the Black Ambition ceremony, Hilliard was also honored as a member of Business Report’s Forty Under 40, which his wife accepted on his behalf. Black Ambition’s investment is in addition to Hilliard’s previous $10,000 investment prize from Nexus Louisiana’s Ignition 2.0 pitch competition. 

Suds is an app-based service that connects users with local laundry and dry cleaners, allowing for both pickup and delivery. The company’s clients include multiple LSU sports teams, the YMCA, Southern University and the Department of Child and Family Services. 

With the investment, which also includes $25,000 in Amazon Web Services credits, Hilliard says he plans to put the money directly into growing the company’s team, including hiring business operations professionals. 

This continues the company’s current growth pattern, which includes the recent hiring of its first full-time driver and public relations specialist. Suds currently has about six operations employees and six drivers, five of which are contracted rideshare workers. 

They are also working with seniors at LSU to conduct a market analysis of the area to find where their next expansion will take place, Hilliard says, noting Prairieville, Zachary, Denham Springs and Hammond as future sites for the business to grow.

“Some of the money will go to that, along with marketing and tech development because we are a tech company at our core,” Hilliard says. “And we always want to make sure we have the best UX, UI design and we wanna make sure we keep everything secure.”

Read more about Black Ambition.