Rockville, Md.-based Camber Creek has led a $40 million Series B funding round for Cents, a New York startup building specialized software for laundries and garment care companies.
Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Tiger Global also participated. New backers included Tech Pioneers Fund, Philadelphia’s RXR (RADV), Derive Ventures and Manchester, N.H.-based Alumni Ventures, as well as executives from SaaS companies such as Toast, Jobber, Squarespace, and Stripe. So far, Cents has raised $77 million from investors.
“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, a Camber Creek partner who has closed commercial real estate transactions and managed portfolios totaling over $10 billion in value.
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“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,” added Nicoletti, who previously worked at Brookfield Properties, Norges Bank and Apollo Global Management.
Founded in 2021 by the trio of Alexander Jekowsky, Gilli Cherrin and Pramod Dabir, Cents provides point-of-sale systems and other software tools specially designed for garment care and vended laundry businesses, including laundromats, dry cleaners, alterations, and shared laundry rooms.
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Cents’ platform is used by over 2,700 retail laundries, or about 1 in 14 laundromats in the United States, and over 3,500 shared laundry rooms. In March, Cents acquired Laundroworks, a hardware-based payments system to strengthen its existing hardware product line.
“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 Cents CEO Jekowsky, who earned a listing in Forbes 30 Under 30. Jekowsky previously founded and ran Ulyngo, a marketplace and payments platform for higher education that was acquired by Modo Labs.
Founded in 2011, Camber Creek is an institutional venture capital firm focused on real estate and related technologies. With nearly $1 billion in assets under management, the firm’s portfolio includes curbio, SalesWarp, Verify and Notarize. Camber Creek has offices in Washington, D.C., New York and Miami, Fla.
