#167 – Vijen Patel | From P&G Exit to $41M VC Fund: Why Boring Industries Win

Vijen Patel is the Founding Partner of The 81 Collection, a $41 million early-stage venture fund that invests in founders building across "hard industries" like manufacturing, real estate, retail, and construction—sectors often overlooked by traditional VCs.Before becoming an investor, Vijen co-founded Pressbox in 2013 with his Notre Dame classmate Drew McKenna. Starting from a 600 sq ft Chicago office, they revolutionized dry cleaning through proprietary lockers in high-end residential buildings, eliminating traditional storefronts. In just 5 years, Pressbox scaled to 1,200 locations, becoming the world's largest dry cleaner before being acquired by Procter & Gamble in 2018 for an undisclosed sum. Post-acquisition, Vijen led the company's rebranding as Tide Cleaners.Prior to entrepreneurship, Vijen worked in private equity after graduating from the University of Notre Dame. Today, through The 81 Collection—which he calls "The Founders Fund for Hard Industries"—he backs entrepreneurs using automation and AI to transform traditional, capital-intensive businesses that others find "boring" or difficult to scale.Based in Chicago, Vijen brings decades of operating experience to identifying high-margin opportunities hidden within low-margin industries, focusing on founders tackling structural inequities and unsexy but essential work.