TechTaka raises $9.5M for its e-commerce achievement service

TechTaka, a South Korean on-line buying achievement startup that gives third-party logistics companies for e-commerce sellers, has raised $9.5 million (12.6 billion KRW) in a Sequence 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. The startup additionally supplies 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 Could 2020 and launched its achievement service referred to as Argo in March 2021. 

Yang advised Information World that he had firsthand expertise on the e-commerce giants of how briskly supply companies are important to prospects. His experience and pursuits in logistics and optimization led him to begin TechTaka to supply fast and dependable logistics companies. 

TechTaka presents its customers next-day supply (orders by midnight for packages that arrive the subsequent day), which is a key to attracting prospects, in response to 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 achievement service in collaboration with logistics and achievement corporations like TechTaka.) The startup CFO Steve Kim advised Information World 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 develop its partnerships with marketplaces and gross sales channels, not simply in South Korea but additionally 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 mentioned, including that it plans to combine with international marketplaces like Amazon and Shopify. 

“We examined our service within the U.S. by introducing Korean e-commerce sellers to Amazon, beginning in Could 2023,” Kim mentioned. “As quickly as we full the method for an official Amazon associate, we plan to develop 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 included 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 by way of an AI-powered digital camera. TechTaka claims that its inner analysis exhibits the corporate’s optimization algorithm saved time within the provide chain course of by 20%, Yang mentioned.

On prime of that, the startup has partnered with LG CNS, an IT resolution arm of Korean electronics large LG, to convey LG’s collaborative robotic service, choosing up parcels for staff, to the warehouses. TechTaka, together with LG CNS, plans to launch a RaaS, or Robotic-as-a-Service, enterprise mannequin to optimize operation within the warehouse, Kim advised Information World.

Earlier this month, the startup arrange a warehouse representing 17,000 sq. meters of space for storing in South Korea. It has 76 staff as of at present. Its earlier backers embody Naver D2SF, Kakao Ventures and Lotte Ventures.