A group of business leaders has come together to establish Clean Ventures, the first venture capital fund dedicated solely to the laundry industry.
The fund’s management team is led by Alex Weiss, founder and CEO of Clean Rite Centers, a laundromat chain that has developed more than 200 stores over the years, with 80 laundries in its current operating portfolio. Other Clean Rite executives involved with the new fund are Senior Vice President Peter Stern and Chief Financial Officer Gary Heller. Adam Greenbaum, who co-founded AGW Partners with Weiss in 2019 to invest in real estate and alternatives, rounds out the new company’s leadership team.
The advisory board includes Oren Sauberman, vice president of Clean Rite Centers; Alex Osipov, chief technology officer for a financial services technology company; Mark Berman, founder and managing partner of MB Family Advisors, a multi-family office investment firm; and Michael Fanger, founder and president of Eastern Funding.
Clean Ventures – founded in partnership with industry affiliates representing more than $75 million in revenue – was established to attract and invest in growth-stage laundry companies.
“Historically fragmented and resistant to change, the industry today is seeing a number of entrepreneurs, investors and institutions bringing technology, disruptive business models, capital and more to generate growth and innovation,” explained Stern, who serves as managing director of Clean Ventures. “As a result, the industry is expected to grow more than 10 to 20 times larger as consumer patterns change, new technology and infrastructure is established, data is accessed, and the way people wash their clothes continues to modernize.”
The new venture’s management team boasts more than 100 years of combined industry experience and, collectively, has built hundreds of laundromats across the U.S.
“We are entrepreneurs at heart,” Stern said. “Through our experience in making venture investments, we have learned that we make the ultimate strategic investor into any company aiming to disrupt or improve the industry. We can thoroughly evaluate and validate concepts. Further, we can significantly accelerate growth for a startup. We are extremely synergistic and can serve as an investor, a collaborator and, at times, even a customer.”
Having been entrenched in the laundromat industry for nearly 30 years, the principals at Clean Ventures are intent on “participating in its growth, modernization and success,” according to Stern.
“We’ve already funded several investments, and our portfolio companies have raised subsequent venture financing at valuations dramatically higher than when we began working with them,” he noted. “It’s with great excitement that we continue to search for our next portfolio company investment.”
