Atlanta trio find success with online housecleaning startup

By Shandra Hill Smith

When Intown resident Sarah Anne Smith went on a search for a housekeeping company in Atlanta, she turned to the Internet. That’s where she discovered Hux (hux.com), a housecleaning services marketplace. Through Hux, an Atlanta startup, you can find and book house cleaners online; this includes receiving a price upfront and paying online as well.

Smith was living in a one-bedroom, one-bath space when she first turned to Hux, and continued with the company once she moved to a two-bedroom, one-bath apartment in Virginia-Highland.

Smith says she felt relieved to learn of Hux after getting bogged down by various requirements of some other housekeeping companies.

“A lot of them had sort of this big process where you had to fill out a form and request a quote, and then a lot of companies required you to have an initial cleaning and you had to sign up for recurring cleanings on their schedule,” Smith said.

For Smith, a biweekly schedule with Hux works best for now, allowing her to free up some of her time to handle other responsibilities.

That’s exactly what co-founders Stanley Vergilis, James Loper and AJ Alix, who launched Hux in 2014, had in mind.

“Business is scaling really quickly,” said Vergilis. “We’re growing at about 20 percent month over month. Almost all of our business is word of mouth.”

A $20,000 angel investment from Adam Mangone helped to give life to Hux. Vergilis says that investment grew to $1.5 million in revenue.

“The only way you can grow that fast is if you have a product people are really raving about,” he added.

The growth didn’t stop there, as Hux also closed a $1.25 million seed investment from venture capitalist Tim Draper and Dau Global of Atlanta.

In April, Hux expanded to the Charlotte market and has plans for more growth in the future in cities such as Miami and Austin. Hux also would like to broaden to include other service market categories such as handyman, painting, lawn care services and tutoring. The owners started with cleaning, as they say it is the “biggest local service market,” said Vergilis.

The idea for Hux came about from prior experiences of the trio, who were each working independently. Both Vergilis and Alix — who met while attending Georgia Tech — were tutoring, while Loper provided technology repair, including fixing cracks on computers and phones.

Hux aims to empower local service providers to get away from having to work for others, but instead to create, manage and grow their own micro-businesses as a solo provider.

“This means flexibility, better pay and recognition for their hard work,” said Vergilis. “With these tools local service providers have a real opportunity to grow and realize their potential.”

Since there is no company overhead, Hux customers are able to pay less, while service providers make more of a profit.

Sarah Anne Smith is definitely sold.

“I love them,” she said. “I haven’t really found any other service provider who has matched them as far as customer service [and] availability. I’ve spoken with the co-founders personally, and that’s been wonderful. I think it’s a great company for busy professionals, young people on the go and people who don’t need to be locked into sort of your traditional contract for cleaning services. I refer them to everyone who asks me about it. I think they’re modernizing the service industry.”