Rundoo raises $30M to expand its AI-native operating system for small supply stores
Rundoo Inc., the creator of an artificial intelligence-native system-of-record for independent supply stores, said today it has closed on a $30 million Series B round of funding, bringing its total amount raised so far to $48 million.
Today’s round was led by Battery Ventures and saw the involvement of existing backers such as Bessemer Venture Partners and CRV.
Rundoo’s mission is to help independent supply stores compete with much bigger rivals such as Walmart and Target by giving them a suite of intelligent AI tools that can help them to run their business operations. Its products include an AI agent assistant called Dooey, a point-of-sale system, a customer relationship management platform, e-commerce technology, a general ledger, loyalty program technology and more. Because these tools are all linked together through Dooey, they can help business owners to grow their sales while reducing costs and expanding their profit margins.
The startup offered plenty of examples of how it helps its customers. For instance, someone who runs a garden center can ask Dooey to create a purchase order ahead of the busy summer season, based on historical sales data, so that it has everything it’s likely to need in stock. It can also factor in things such as weather forecasts and known landscaper bids in the area, using this data to guess what customers will need ahead of time.
In addition, Dooey can also make recommendations such as which products the store should offer through a promotion in order to increase sales. For instance, it might recommend that the garden store offer a 20% discount on garden hoses ahead of the Fourth of July, a time when many Americans want to spend time outside.
It’s the same kind of analytics-based approach used by much bigger corporations, but Rundoo co-founder and Chief Executive Nick Hershey says his company makes it available to smaller businesses for the first time. “Our clients supply the materials that allow our communities to build and care for the world around us, and our technology helps them do that better and more efficiently,” Hershey explained.
He believes that many need that help now more than ever before, because they’re facing intense competition from continually-expanding big-box stores as well as macroeconomic challenges like tariffs and oil shocks. “Our platform gives independent store owners the same operational power that much larger corporations use to grow revenue and expand,” Hershey added.
Hershey, who graduated from Stanford University with a major in math, was a hedge fund trader for several years, before he decided to jack that in and become an entrepreneur. He started Rundoo back in 2021 alongside his former college roommate Andrew Beckman, who previously worked as a software engineer in Silicon Valley. Since then, they have grown the startup to serve more than 500 independent stores across the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean.
Part of the reason for Rundoo’s success is that it partners closely with some of the largest distributors and manufacturers in North America. For instance, it works closely with Benjamin Moore & Co., a global supplier of paint. The Rundoo platform connects to Benjamin Moore’s proprietary tint software, so that independent retailers can reliably identify the right color of paint for their customers.
Rundoo also serves hardware stores such as Berry’s Hardware in Dumas, Arkansas. In that case, it primarily uses Rundoo as a business analyst. Every evening, after the store shuts up for the night, Dooey provides its owner with a plain-language recap of what happened that day, such as its top-selling products, who its customers were, any unusual returns and details of items that sold below the expected margins. It’s the same kind of analysis that much bigger stores perform using large teams of analysts, but Rundoo makes it available at a fraction of the cost.
“Dooey has become my most trusted partner in the business,” said Berry’s Hardware owner Brandon Berry.
Battery Ventures partner Michael Brown said there’s a fantastic opportunity for Rundoo because the vast majority of independent supply stores in the U.S. are still running on decades-old legacy software systems. “The owners aren’t behind the times, but their software is,” he said. “The loyalty of Rundoo’s clients tells you everything about where this is headed.”
Going forward, Rundoo will use the funds from today’s round to expand its engineering team and add new features to its platform. It will also grow its go-to-market team at its main office in Chicago with a view to expanding its customer base.
Image: Rundoo
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