TechTaka, a South Korean on-line procuring success startup that gives third-party logistics providers for e-commerce sellers, has raised $9.5 million (12.6 billion KRW) in a Collection B spherical of funding from a sole investor, Altos Ventures.
The outfit helps e-commerce sellers handle the provision chain, from warehousing, order packing and transport, in order that TechTaka customers can deal with product and advertising and marketing. The startup additionally offers a SaaS working system to optimize the web distributors’ provide chain and logistics operations.
Soo Younger Yang (CEO), who had stints at Amazon and Coupang as a software program engineer, and Kyung Wook Lee (CTO), who beforehand labored at Coupang, based TechTaka in Might 2020 and launched its success service referred to as Argo in March 2021.
Yang informed TechCrunch that he had firsthand expertise on the e-commerce giants of how briskly supply providers are vital to prospects. His experience and pursuits in logistics and optimization led him to start out TechTaka to supply fast and dependable logistics providers.
TechTaka affords its customers next-day supply (orders by midnight for packages that arrive the following day), which is a key to attracting prospects, in accordance with Yang. Since July final 12 months, the three-year-old startup has built-in with Naver’s SmartStore, which is main South Korea’s e-commerce market together with Coupang. (Coupang has its own fulfillment centers, and Naver bolsters its success service in collaboration with logistics and success firms like TechTaka.) The startup CFO Steve Kim informed TechCrunch its efficiency notably elevated by way of revenues and prospects after partnering with Naver. It presently has greater than 170 prospects in South Korea.
The outfit will proceed to increase its partnerships with marketplaces and gross sales channels, not simply in South Korea but in addition within the U.S. and Southeast Asia. TechTaka, which has a warehouse in Seattle, has began serving to Korean distributors promote their merchandise on Amazon, Kim stated, including that it plans to combine with world marketplaces like Amazon and Shopify.
“We examined our service within the U.S. by introducing Korean e-commerce sellers to Amazon, beginning in Might 2023,” Kim stated. “As quickly as we full the method for an official Amazon associate, we plan to increase this enterprise within the U.S.”
The newest capital, which brings its complete raised to $18 million (23.6 billion KRW), will allow TechTaka to advance its expertise, scale its service for on-line retailers and rent employees.
TechTaka has integrated synthetic intelligence into its system to investigate cargo patterns to allow customers to foretell shares, orders and gross sales. Argo’s AI expertise additionally recommends packaging and optimized routes for warehouses (warehouse administration system) and deliveries (transportation administration system). It detects operation errors through an AI-powered digicam. TechTaka claims that its inside analysis reveals the corporate’s optimization algorithm saved time within the provide chain course of by 20%, Yang stated.
On prime of that, the startup has partnered with LG CNS, an IT answer arm of Korean electronics big LG, to deliver LG’s collaborative robotic service, choosing up parcels for staff, to the warehouses. TechTaka, along with LG CNS, plans to launch a RaaS, or Robotic-as-a-Service, enterprise mannequin to optimize operation within the warehouse, Kim informed TechCrunch.
Earlier this month, the startup arrange a warehouse representing 17,000 sq. meters of space for storing in South Korea. It has 76 workers as of right this moment. Its earlier backers embrace Naver D2SF, Kakao Ventures and Lotte Ventures.
