Cents Raises Series C with Sumeru Equity Partners

Today we announced $140 million in new funding. But the real story is what comes next. Our CEO & Co-Founder Alexander Jekowsky shares his perspective on what this raise really means, why we started Cents five years ago, and the promise we are making to every laundry operator we serve and everyone who has yet to find us. Read Alex's full post 👉 https://lnkd.in/eq7iBXX7

Big news for the industry today — and one that’s personal for me. I’ve always been drawn to the intersection of technology and humanity — what’s possible vs. what people actually need. If you look closely, you’ll find entire industries where technology has passed them by… and they’re often much bigger than they seem. For me lately, that’s been laundry. Yep - Laundry. It’s something that touches everyone. It’s essential. And over the last few years, I’ve come to appreciate just how large and important this ecosystem really is — from individual laundromat owners to the ~100 families who operate a huge portion of machines in apartment communities. Along the way, I’ve had the chance to meet thousands of owners. People who have put everything into their businesses and their communities. I’ve learned a lot from them, and I’m grateful for it. I love getting the question when I am out and about — “What do you do?” “Laundry.” "Laundry?" “Laundry… it’s way cooler than you think.” This raise is a big milestone, but more importantly, it’s a signal — belief in what’s been built and what’s still ahead. Grateful for the team I get to build with every day, and for the owners and partners who trust us. We’re just getting started.

Proud to share that Worth AI has announced its Series A financing, led by Fulcrum Equity Partners, TTV Capital, and Amex Ventures. We continue to look forward to backing Suneera Madhani, Sal Rehmetullah and the rest of the Worth team as they work to transform SMB onboarding, underwriting, and risk decisioning for enterprises through AI and automation. https://lnkd.in/ehzZ3T78

Amazing milestone for Worth AI on its $30M Series A and acceleration in building AI-powered infrastructure for faster, smarter SMB onboarding and underwriting. Excited to see what comes next and to continue backing Sal Rehmetullah, Suneera Madhani, and the entire team at Worth!

Decagon completed its first tender offer allowing more than 300 employees to sell vested shares at a $4.5 billion valuation. Investors including Coatue and a16z led the secondary transaction following a recent $250 million Series D funding round. The company utilized the liquidity event to retain talent as it developed autonomous agents for enterprise clients like Avis Budget Group and 1-800-Flowers. https://lnkd.in/efAXf33k

Big moment for the Worth AI team: we've raised $30M in Series A funding to accelerate our mission to modernize how financial institutions onboard and underwrite customers. This round was led by Fulcrum Equity Partners, with participation from Amex Ventures and TTV Capital. For decades, institutions have relied on fragmented systems not built for speed, intelligence, or scale. That model is breaking, and Worth AI is building what comes next. Incredibly grateful for our wonderful team members, partners, and customers around the world! Read more from Inc. Magazine: https://lnkd.in/eZH8AN6d

$140M in Series C funding for Cents, led by Sumeru Equity Partners with Camber Creek also participating, as the company expands AI-powered software and payment hardware for laundromats and garment care SMBs. What makes this round interesting is the market structure. Laundry is a huge, fragmented service category with thousands of small operators, aging payment infrastructure, and messy offline workflows. Cents is trying to aggregate that complexity into one operating stack spanning POS, on-machine payments, pickup and delivery, marketing automation, and AI customer service. That gives the AI angle a more grounded shape than a typical vertical software pitch. Instead of selling a narrow model feature, Cents is embedding AI inside the daily operating system for an essential service business where uptime, affordability, and customer retention matter more than novelty. If more AI adoption moves into unglamorous but durable SMB categories, this is the kind of platform that could quietly build real leverage. Quick facts👇 ● founders: Alexander Jekowsky; Gilli Cherrin ● total capital raised: >$217M ● HQ: New York, New York ● Investors: Sumeru Equity Partners; Camber Creek

【One Makes $2M+/Month】An 18-Year-Old AI Founder and a 31-Year-Old Portable Toilet Operator: 5 Shocking Truths from Two Polar-Opposite Success Stories On one side: an 18-year-old netting $1.4M/month through an AI app. On the other: a 31-year-old running portable toilets in Silicon Valley, on track to surpass $4M/year. Completely different — yet they share the same DNA: both demolished self-limiting beliefs and ruthlessly solved friction in the market. 𝟏. Eliminating Friction Beats Fancy Tech Zach Yadagari's CalAI lets you snap a photo to track nutrition. The real innovation wasn't the algorithm — it was killing the unbearable friction of manual food logging. In the AI era, the winning move is making everyday annoyances disappear. 𝟐. Physical Barriers Are the Ultimate AI-Proof Moat Daniel Tom launched a portable toilet business in the Bay Area — surrounded by Google and Nvidia. Construction contracts generate 2.5 years of recurring revenue per deal. While everyone rushes toward AI, the smartest contrarian play might be work that requires trucks, labor, and showing up at 5 AM. 𝟑. Cash Flow Is the Real Battlefield CalAI was exploding — but Apple's 45-day payment lag nearly killed it. Zach spent months on the edge of profitable bankruptcy. Daniel's business requires $250K+ just to start. Digital or analog, scaling without mastering cash flow is a death sentence. 𝟒. Marketing > Product (Yes, Really) Zach says CalAI's "special sauce" isn't AI — it's influencer marketing. He poured most of his budget into attention, not engineering. "Build it and they will come" is a myth. Even an 18-year-old knows marketing comes first. 𝟓. How You Spend Reveals Who You Are Zach bought a Lamborghini at 18 — but also built a hacker house called "App Mafia" to nurture next-gen founders. Daniel pays himself just $120K/year despite $4M+ revenue, reinvesting everything into growth. The line between "high earner" and "true entrepreneur" is drawn by reinvestment. https://lnkd.in/gb7DkEtB https://lnkd.in/g9GXQn2p They both prove the same truth: The walls of "age" and "industry" are illusions built by our own assumptions. What if you went all-in on the path everyone else is too proud to take? #Entrepreneurship #AI #StartupLife #BusinessStrategy #Leadership #Innovation #GrowthMindset

Startups are treating these dinners as strategic investments, often spending tens of thousands to secure face time with key prospects. https://thein.fo/3PopxW7

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