On-demand laundry startup Washio is washed up.

The Santa Monica-based company that raised more than $16 million since its founding in 2013 announced on its website Monday that it had closed its operations and would no longer be accepting orders.

Founded by former child actor Jordan Metzner, the company promised to pick up its customers’ laundry on-demand, after service was requested via an app, and return it to them cleaned within 24 hours.

But the app-based laundry service industry is crowded with competition from startups such as Rinse Inc., Laundry Locker Inc., Cleanly Inc., and FlyCleaners Inc. Unfortunately, without additional investment or a white-knight buyer the company’s management decided the startup could not go on.

“We generated millions in revenue and hundreds of thousands of orders, but the nature of startups is being innovative and venturing into uncharted territory: sometimes you make it, sometimes you don’t,” co-founders Jordan Metzner, Bob Wall and Juan Dulanto wrote on the company’s homepage. “We are proud of what we accomplished along the way: over one million items of clothing dry cleaned, and over 21,000 tons of laundry washed and folded!”

Washio’s shuttering comes as Cargomatic, another on-demand app company across town in Venice, is on life support. Its app promised to help shippers find unused capacity on short-haul trucks, supposedly a more efficient approach to facilitating logistics than traditional brokers.

Yet, despite raising $10.6 million since its founding in 2013, Cargomatic has struggled lately; laying off one third of its workforce in March and seeing its co-founder Jonathan Kessler step down from his role as chief executive in May.

The company has only two months of cash left to fund its operations, although its lead Series A investor Canaan Partners has pledged a new cash infusion that will give the company an “ indefinite runway,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Canaan Partners was also the lead Series A investor in Washio.

While Washio’s operations have shutdown, its founding team is holding onto hope that it might remerge someday under different ownership.

“We are not alone in believing in Washio’s core business, technology and team, and hope it lives on in some shape or form in the future,” said the post, alluding to a possible acquisition of the company’s assets. “But, that story has yet to be told…”

Technology reporter Garrett Reim can be reached at [email protected]. Follow @garrettreim on Twitter for the latest in L.A. tech news.