With customers in segments including paint, hardware, lawn & garden, and farm & feed, Rundoo-founded by two Stanford grads-is helping smaller retailers compete in an uncertain economy

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.: Technology company Rundoo has raised $30 million in Series B financing led by Battery Ventures, with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and CRV, bringing the company's total funding to $48 million. Rundoo provides an AI-first system of record for independent supply stores, supporting the operations of vital small businesses that serve communities across the U.S. and Canada.

The company, founded in 2021, will use the new funding to grow its engineering team in Redwood City and its go-to-market team in Chicago. Rundoo serves over 500 stores in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, and plans to use the funds to invest in additional technology for its clients.

Rundoo’s technology platform helps independent supply stores better serve customers and compete with corporate big-box stores. Specifically, it provides independent businesses with a unified, AI-first set of tools to operate their business: a point-of-sale system, e-commerce technology, customer relationship management, loyalty programs, general ledger, and more. These tools help owners grow sales, reduce costs, and increase margins.

Take a garden center heading into summer. The store’s owner can ask Dooey, Rundoo's AI agent, to build a purchase order based on historical sales data, upcoming weather, and known landscaper bids in the area. Dooey can also suggest and market time-bounded promotions for the garden store that it predicts will drive sales-say, 20% off garden hoses through the Fourth of July. This type of analysis and customer outreach, common at larger, nationwide stores, has historically been difficult for smaller retailers to execute.

"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,” said Nick Hershey, Rundoo’s co-founder and CEO. “With continuing competition from big-box stores, macroeconomic challenges like tariffs and oil shocks, and ever-changing consumer expectations, owning an independent supply store is a challenging endeavor. Our platform gives independent store owners the same operational power that much larger corporations use to grow revenue and expand."

Hershey, a former Stanford University math major, started Rundoo with his college roommate Andrew Beckman, who worked as a Silicon Valley software engineer for several years before teaming up with Hershey to start the new company. Hershey worked as a hedge fund trader after college before deciding to focus his efforts on the real economy.

To achieve their mission of empowering supply stores with the best technology, Rundoo partners with large distributors and manufacturers, such as Benjamin Moore, a global leader in paint, color and coatings. Rundoo connects directly to Benjamin Moore’s tint software so that Benjamin Moore’s independent dealers can reliably tint the right color and keep that information on hand for their customers.

Hardware stores like Berry's Hardware in Dumas, Arkansas, are using Rundoo as an always-on analyst. Every evening, Dooey hands owner Brandon Berry a plain-language recap of the day’s activity: top sellers, new customers, unusual returns, and any item that sold below the margin he set. It is the kind of analysis a big chain pays a team to run. "Dooey has become my most trusted partner in the business," says Berry.

Michael Brown, a general partner at Battery Ventures, led his firm's investment in Rundoo and will join the company's board. Brown previously backed ServiceTitan, a now-public company, whose technology powers commercial and residential trades businesses.

"Independent supply stores are one of the largest categories of American retail that still runs on decades-old systems," Brown said. "The owners aren't behind the times; their software is. We watched ServiceTitan close that same gap for the trades and become the operating system for an entire industry. Rundoo is doing it for the stores that supply those trades, and the loyalty of Rundoo’s clients tells you everything about where this is headed."

Kent Bennett, board member and partner at Bessemer Venture Partners who led the company’s Seed and Series A rounds, continued: "Supply stores have been historically overlooked by Silicon Valley, despite being the lynchpin for the built-world and the conduit for a massive slice of global commerce. And it turns out these suppliers are every bit as eager to leverage modern technology including AI as their counterparts in other more visible industries. Nick and Andrew have built a world class team obsessed with making life easier for the owners and employees in this massive industry."

About Rundoo

Rundoo is the AI-first platform for independent supply stores, serving hundreds of independent hardware, paint, lawn & garden, farm & feed, and lumber stores. It was founded in 2021 by Stanford graduates Nick Hershey and Andrew Beckman and is backed by leading venture capital firms like Bessemer, CRV, and Battery.

Fonte: Business Wire