Laundry tech startup Cents raises $140M in funding to digitize laundromats with AI-powered software and payments

Laundry is one of those businesses most people never think about—until the machines stop working or the payment system fails. Behind the scenes, tens of thousands of small operators keep the industry running, often with outdated tools and fragmented systems. That’s the gap Cents is going after.

The laundry tech startup has raised $140 million in Series C funding, led by Sumeru Equity Partners, with participation from Camber Creek. The round is the largest single software investment in the laundry space to date, signaling rising investor interest in modernizing a sector long overlooked.

Cents raises $140M Series C to build the operating system for the modern laundry business

Cents is positioning itself as the operating system for laundromats and garment-care businesses. Its platform brings together business management software, payment processing, and in-store hardware into one system. For owners, that means fewer disconnected tools and more visibility into daily operations, from machine usage to customer transactions.

The opportunity is larger than it may appear at first glance. The U.S. alone has more than 90,000 retail laundry businesses, along with hundreds of thousands of laundry rooms in apartment buildings and shared housing. Many still rely on coin-based systems or legacy setups that leave little room for growth or efficiency. Cents is betting that a unified platform can change that.

At the center of the company’s approach is its AI-driven software layer, paired with proprietary payment hardware installed directly on machines. The goal is simple: give operators a clearer picture of how their business is performing and help them run it with fewer headaches. Features range from point-of-sale systems and automated customer messaging to pickup and delivery management.

“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. These entrepreneurs — from first-generation owners to multi-unit operators, community anchors to tech-driven innovators — all share the same relentless drive,” said Alex Jekowsky, Co-Founder & CEO of Cents. “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.“

Investors see Cents as more than a niche software provider. In a statement, Sumeru Growth Partner Chris Litster and Principal Nathan Stanley highlighted the company’s operator-first approach and its push to digitize operations and payments across the laundry and garment care market.

The new funding will push Cents into its next phase. The company plans to expand its AI product suite, build out more payment hardware, and grow its reach across laundromats, dry cleaners, and route-based operators. It is also increasing investment in customer support, an area that matters deeply in a business where downtime can quickly translate into lost revenue.

As part of the deal, Sumeru Managing Partner and Co-Founder Sanjeet Mitra will join Cents’ board, adding another layer of oversight as the company scales.

Cents says its platform is already used by more than 4,500 locations, processing around $1 billion in payments each year. That early traction gives the company a foothold in a market that has resisted change for decades.

For an industry built on routine, the shift is starting to take shape. What used to run on coins and manual tracking is moving toward connected systems, digital payments, and real-time data. Cents is positioning itself right at that transition point, aiming to bring a familiar business into a new era—without changing the core service people rely on every week.

Cents raises $140M in funding