Tektakaa South Korean online shopping fulfillment startup that provides third-party logistics services to e-commerce sellers, has raised $9.5 million (12.6 billion won) in a Series B round from sole investor Altos Ventures.
This equipment helps e-commerce sellers manage their supply chain from warehousing, order packaging, and shipping, allowing TechTaka users to focus on their products and marketing. The startup also offers his SaaS operating system for optimizing online vendors' supply chain and logistics operations.
Mr. Soo Young Yang (CEO), who worked as a software engineer at Amazon and Coupang, and Mr. Kyung Wook Lee (CTO), who previously worked at Coupang, established TechTaka in May 2020 and started the fulfillment service “TechTaka”. started. Argo In March 2021.
Yang told TechCrunch that at the e-commerce giant, he experienced first-hand how important fast delivery service is to customers. With his expertise and interest in logistics and optimization, he founded TechTaka to provide fast and reliable logistics services.
TechTaka offers users next-day delivery (orders placed before midnight for packages to arrive the next day), which Yang says is key to attracting customers. Since July last year, the three-year-old startup, along with Coupang, has integrated with Naver's SmartStore, which leads the Korean e-commerce market. (Coupang has its own fulfillment center, and Naver works with logistics and fulfillment companies like TechTaka to enhance its fulfillment services.) Startup CFO Steve Kim told TechCrunch that Naver and said that after the partnership, the company's performance increased significantly in terms of revenue and customers. Currently, there are over 170 customers in Korea.
The group plans to continue expanding its partnerships with markets and sales channels not only in Korea but also in the United States and Southeast Asia. TechTaka, which has a warehouse in Seattle, has started helping Korean vendors sell their products on Amazon, Kim said, adding that it has plans to integrate with global marketplaces such as Amazon and Shopify.
“We tested the service in the United States by introducing Korean e-commerce sellers to Amazon starting in May 2023,” Kim said. “We plan to expand this business in the U.S. once we complete the process of becoming an official Amazon partner.”
The funding, which totals $18 million (23.6 billion won), will enable TechTaka to advance its technology, expand its services for online sellers, and hire staff.
TechTaka built artificial intelligence into its system to analyze shipping patterns and help users predict inventory, orders, and sales. Argo's AI technology also recommends packaging and optimized routes for warehouses (warehouse management systems) and distribution (transport management systems).Detects operational errors Via AI-equipped camera. TechTaka claims that internal research shows that the company's optimization algorithms have saved him 20% of his supply chain process time, Yang said.
Additionally, the startup has partnered with LG CNS, the IT solutions arm of South Korean electronics giant LG, to bring LG's collaborative robot service to warehouses to pick up packages for employees. Kim told TechCrunch that TechTaka plans to work with LG CNS to launch a RaaS (Robot-as-a-Service) business model to optimize operations within warehouses.
Earlier this month, the startup opened a warehouse in South Korea with 17,000 square meters of storage space. The current number of employees is 76. Previous backers include Naver D2SF, Kakao Ventures, and Lotte Ventures.