Autone raises 17 million US dollars in Series A funding

London-based AI-powered inventory management platform Autone, which helps retailers predict demand, reduce waste and increase sales, has raised 17 million US dollars in Series A funding.

The round was led by General Catalyst, alongside all existing investors from its seed round, including Speedinvest, YCombinator, Seedcamp, 2100VC, Motier, Financière Saint James, and business angels from LVMH, Sephora and Moncler.

In a statement, Autone said the funds will be used to accelerate product development and continue its expansion and hiring across the US and Europe.

Adil Bouhdadi, chief executive at Autone, said: “Autone speaks the language of the people using it—not just the C-suite. An intuitive platform that turns passive data into powerful actions A place where retail professionals can see the ROI of their work and feel confident in their decisions. We've taken a step back to look at what AI can really mean for our users. Retailers sit on piles of data that can simply not be leveraged with most tools, let alone spreadsheets. Autone unlocks retailer profitability by reducing inventory levels while improving sales.

“To us, AI is not just about automation and prediction; It's about empowering the expert within each user. The future of retail extends beyond sales figures and inventory levels; it's deeply intertwined with our responsibility towards the environment. We aim to show the entire industry that selling better doesn't mean more inventory but smarter inventory.”

AI-powered inventory platform Autone secures new funding

Autone, founded in 2021 by Adil Bouhdadi and Harry Glucksmann-Cheslaw, who previously built Alexander McQueen’s intelligence platform, is used by more than 50 global brands, including Courreges, Roberto Cavalli, Stussy, and Zadig & Voltaire to help them accurately forecast demand, accelerate sales, while minimising waste and dramatically cutting time spent on manual tasks.

Inventory planning is vital in the retail sector to maintain margins and meet customer demand. Autone’s platform collates 100 million data points per customer, which it uses to demonstrate the impact on the bottom line of changing a single input. By integrating all internal and external data, the platform uses predictive analytics and machine learning to identify trends, forecast demand and anticipate inventory needs.

Brands using Autone report up to a 55 percent reduction on inventory, a 25 percent increase in accuracy in forecasting, a 30 percent sales increase and 45 hours a week of manual work saved per customer. The platform uses AI and LLMs to explain the data insights behind stock recommendations, which then can be executed with a single click.

Autone’s latest funding round takes the total raised by the company to more than 20 million US dollars and comes less than a year after the company’s Seed round. The platform’s revenue has increased sixfold since the last funding round and expanded its client base from high-fashion to serve mid-market retailers in beauty and cosmetics, accessories, sportswear and homeware across the UK, France, Germany, the UAE and the US.

Zeynep Yavuz from General Catalyst, added: “Inventory management is one of the most critical and increasingly complex challenges in retail. With our investment in Autone, we are partnering with what we think is an exceptional team that stands out with their deep retail expertise and a vision to help mid-market retailers make better business decisions using data. We are excited to support Autone in their journey to become a leading force in AI-powered retail technology.”