Cents Cleans Up With Record $140M to Digitize Laundry Industry

NEW YORK, NY – March 26, 2026 – Cents, a technology company dedicated to modernizing the laundry industry, today announced a landmark $140 million Series C funding round. The investment, led by growth equity firm Sumeru Equity Partners with continued participation from Series B lead Camber Creek, marks the largest single software investment ever made in the laundry vertical. The capital infusion is set to accelerate the digital transformation of an essential, yet often overlooked, sector of the American economy.

The funding positions Cents, which provides an all-in-one software, hardware, and payments platform, as the definitive operating system for thousands of small business owners. It validates a growing belief among investors that even the most traditional industries are ripe for technological disruption.

A Digital Spin for a Traditional Trade

The American laundry industry is a sprawling network of over 90,000 retail laundromats and dry cleaners, supplemented by hundreds of thousands of laundry rooms in multi-family apartment buildings. For decades, it has been a cornerstone of communities and a reliable path to entrepreneurship. However, the sector has largely remained a technological backwater, often operating on cash, manual processes, and disconnected systems.

Cents was founded to address this gap, building a fully integrated platform designed specifically for the workflows of garment care professionals. Its system combines an AI-native business management suite—which includes a point-of-sale system, customer relationship management, and marketing automation—with proprietary on-machine payment hardware and integrated payment processing. This unified approach allows a laundromat owner to manage in-store drop-offs, pickup and delivery services, and machine payments from a single dashboard, a significant leap from the fragmented solutions of the past.

For customers, the platform translates to a modern, seamless experience: paying with a smartphone instead of quarters, tracking their order status online, and communicating with the business effortlessly. For operators, it means less time managing logistics and more time focusing on growth and customer service.

The Investor Bet on Vertical SaaS

The $140 million investment is more than just capital; it's a powerful endorsement of the vertical SaaS model, where software is built for the deep, specific needs of one industry. Sumeru Equity Partners, which now leads the round and places Managing Partner Sanjeet Mitra on the Cents board, has built its portfolio by backing such category-defining companies.

"Alex, Gilli, and the Cents team have built the go-to operating system for modern laundry and garment care," said Sumeru Growth Partner Chris Litster and Principal Nathan Stanley in a joint statement. "This is a critical, global industry that has benefited from Cents' innovation in digitizing operations and payments technology so operators can run their businesses better around the clock. Cents took an operator-first mindset and invested heavily to build its category-defining product suite — enabling laundry and garment care SMBs to grow, manage, and understand their businesses like never before."

This sentiment reflects a broader market trend. Investors are increasingly looking beyond horizontal software that serves all businesses to find value in platforms that dominate a specific niche. By solving the unique problems of laundry owners, Cents can achieve deeper market penetration and customer loyalty than a generic business management tool ever could. The continued investment from Camber Creek, a venture firm focused on real estate technology, also highlights the platform's strategic value in the multi-family housing market, where modernizing amenities like laundry rooms is key to attracting and retaining tenants.

Empowering the Everyday Entrepreneur

Beyond the technology and financial figures, Cents frames its mission around the people who run America's laundromats. These entrepreneurs, from first-generation immigrants to multi-store operators, are the backbone of an essential service. The platform aims to give them the same sophisticated tools that were once only available to large corporations.

"Owning a laundry business is one of the purest expressions of the American entrepreneurial dream, and provides an essential service woven into the fabric of our everyday lives," said Alex Jekowsky, Co-Founder & CEO of Cents. "These entrepreneurs — from first-generation owners to multi-unit operators, community anchors to tech-driven innovators — all share the same relentless drive. I couldn't be more thrilled to partner with Sumeru to invest deeper in our industry and to bring a level of innovation, support, and service that these operators deserve."

By automating administrative tasks, providing data on revenue trends and machine usage, and streamlining customer management, the Cents platform frees up owners to think strategically. It allows them to analyze profitability, launch marketing campaigns, and expand their services, such as adding pickup and delivery routes—a high-margin business line that has become increasingly popular.

Fueling an AI-Powered Future

The new funding will be deployed to aggressively expand Cents' technological lead. A key focus will be accelerating the company's AI-powered product suite. This includes developing tools for predictive maintenance on machines, optimizing pricing based on demand, and automating customer service inquiries. The goal is to make the business not just manageable, but intelligent and self-optimizing.

Significant investment is also earmarked for developing new proprietary payment hardware. By controlling the hardware, Cents aims to lower the cost barrier for owners to modernize their machines, making digital and contactless payments more accessible across the industry. This is a critical step in moving the sector away from its heavy reliance on coins and custom laundry cards.

Furthermore, the company plans to deepen its investment in customer support and experience, ensuring that as it scales, its clients receive the training and assistance needed to make the most of the technology. This operator-first approach has been central to its growth, which has already brought over 4,500 locations onto the platform, processing more than $1 billion in payments annually.

Navigating the Path to Modernization

Despite the clear benefits, the path to digitizing a traditional industry is not without challenges. Overcoming inertia and demonstrating a clear return on investment are crucial for convincing long-time business owners to abandon familiar, albeit inefficient, methods. Cents must navigate the complexities of hardware installation, supply chains, and the varied technical literacy of its user base.

However, the momentum is undeniable. The demand for convenience from consumers and the need for efficiency from operators are powerful tailwinds. The success of Cents in securing such a substantial investment and building a customer base of thousands of locations indicates that the tipping point has been reached. The capital injection will not only allow Cents to refine its product and expand its reach but also serves as a loud and clear signal to the entire laundry industry that the era of digital transformation is no longer on the horizon—it is here.