New York-based Cents, an all-in-one business management platform powering the way laundry business operators SMBs grow, manage, and understand their businesses, has just raised $40 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Camber Creek with participation from previous investors Bessemer Venture Partners (which invested in Qogito and Carwow) and Tiger Global.
Additional strategic investors in this round include Tech Pioneer Fund, RXR (RADV), Derive Ventures, Alumni Ventures, as well as executives at best-in-class SaaS companies like Toast, Jobber, Squarespace, and Stripe. This round brings the company’s total funding to over $77 million.
“Cents is the clear category leader in serving independent garment care businesses. Their drive for innovation, while staying focused on the needs of SMB’s is second to none,” said Alexandra Nicoletti at Camber Creek, the leading real estate technology venture capital firm. “We see huge opportunities for Cents to continue to provide their game-changing technology for the real estate space. From technology that supports route operators and shared laundry rooms to powering the amenity of laundry for tenants through their network of local laundry businesses, we’re thrilled to be partnering with Cents.”
With this investment, the company looks forward to continued expansion this year, including new product development and geographic growth.
Announces an acquisition
In addition to the financing, Cents has acquired Laundroworks, a hardware-based payments system powering how consumers pay for laundry at laundromats and shared laundry rooms within multi-family buildings, hotels, universities, and more, to reinforce its existing hardware product line.
Idea behind Cents
The company was founded by Alex Jekowsky, Gilli Cherrin, and Pramod Dabir in 2021, with the idea that laundry should be easy so we can all spend more time doing the things we love. While software and operational tools have elevated pizza parlours, barbershops, and gyms, the laundry industry wasn’t tapped by these tools.
Cents aims to provide laundromats and dry cleaners with a true, all-in-one business management system that empowers them to run their business more efficiently.
What does Cents do?
Cents provides POS, online ordering, payment hardware, marketing tools, and business management software for all garment care and laundry businesses, including laundromats, dry cleaners, alterations, and shared laundry rooms. The platform makes a meaningful impact on every type of business, whether it’s a mom-and-pop shop, a multi-unit operation, or anything in between.
Its core focus is to centralise the many different revenue streams and operations of a garment care business, including self-serve, wash and fold, dry cleaning, alterations, pickup and delivery, commercial laundry, and more.
Cents started with CentsOS, the POS and “nucleus” of laundry operations, and quickly expanded to launching Cents Dispatch, a modern and accessible online ordering and logistics management platform that included the first-ever facilitation of on-demand delivery via outsourced couriers. As the SaaS products grew, it launched Connect, the most integrated hardware device for self-serve payments, installed directly on laundry equipment. For the first time, this suite of products has given laundry operators one platform to power their entire business.
Currently, the platform powers over 2,700 retail laundries, about 1 in 14 laundromats in the US, and over 3,500 shared laundry rooms.
“Laundry is a critical human need. Local laundry businesses provide an essential service, and these SMBs deserve best-in-class technology and support to provide that service while generating strong ROIs,” said Alex Jekowsky, CEO and Co-founder of Cents. “We have dedicated ourselves to this industry and the unique needs of our customers. It’s a privilege to have the trust and support of our customers as we’ve continued to grow, and our entire team feels the weight of our responsibility to build innovative solutions that support their business goals. We’re experiencing a true renaissance in the laundry industry. I’m so proud of our team for their tireless dedication and drive to elevate the experience for our operators and their customers.”
What do we think about Cents?
The US startup is disrupting the laundry industry with its all-in-one business management platform, streamlining operations for laundromats, dry cleaners, and shared laundry rooms. By centralising revenue streams and providing advanced tools for POS, logistics, and payments, Cents empowers small and mid-sized businesses to operate more efficiently. With a growing presence across the US, the company is set to elevate the garment care sector, driving innovation and improving service quality industry-wide.
