NEW YORK — Laundry technology provider Cents has secured a significant growth investment aimed at accelerating innovation for laundromat and garment care operators.
The company reports it has closed a $140 million Series C funding round led by Sumeru Equity Partners, with participation from Series B lead Camber Creek. The investment is described as the largest single software funding round to date in the laundry industry, underscoring increasing interest in technology solutions for small and mid-sized operators.
Cents offers an integrated platform that combines business management software, payments technology and proprietary hardware designed specifically for laundry operations. The company says its system is built to help owners streamline day-to-day operations, scale their businesses and improve the customer experience.
The funding will support several key initiatives, including expansion of its AI-powered product suite, enhanced customer support capabilities and continued development of payment hardware. The company also plans to broaden its offerings for both laundromats and dry cleaners, while strengthening partnerships with route operators and equipment distributors.
In announcing the investment, Cents Co-Founder and CEO Alex Jekowsky emphasized the importance of modernizing an industry that remains heavily reliant on small-business ownership.
“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,” he says. “These operators — from first-generation owners to multi-unit operators, community anchors to tech-driven innovators — all share the same relentless drive.”
The laundry services market includes tens of thousands of retail locations and a large installed base of machines in multifamily housing, making it a sizable but still evolving target for technology adoption.
“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,” say Sumeru Growth Partner Chris Litster and Principal Nathan Stanley. “We are excited to partner with the company and look forward to seeing what the team builds next for this growing customer base.”
As part of the transaction, Sanjeet Mitra, Sumeru managing partner and co-founder, will join the Cents board of directors.
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