BackOps AI, a San Francisco-based technology company developing artificial intelligence tools for logistics operations, has raised $26 million in Series A funding to accelerate the development of its platform.
The investment round was led by Theory Ventures and will support the expansion of the company’s team while speeding up its product roadmap.
BackOps describes its platform as an AI-native operating system designed to automate the many operational tasks that logistics teams currently perform manually.
According to the company, its software has already demonstrated the ability to improve customer response times by as much as 93%.
Chief executive Sean McCarthy said supply chains are extremely complex systems involving multiple vendors, platforms and workflows for each shipment.
Companies therefore require tools that go beyond simply tracking problems and can actively resolve operational issues.
BackOps aims to connect the different components of logistics operations into a unified system capable of automatically handling many of these tasks.
The company offers two core products: an AI Process Center and Relay.
Relay, its flagship solution, operates across communication channels such as email and Slack to identify operational issues and automatically trigger responses. These may include filing carrier claims, initiating reshipments or responding to customer inquiries.
The system also incorporates a “human in the loop” design, allowing logistics teams to set approval checkpoints and escalation procedures to ensure automation remains under human supervision.
McCarthy previously worked with warehouse operations teams at Amazon and has described the logistics sector as suffering from what he calls a “$100 billion inefficiency” caused by manual operational processes.
Theory Ventures partner Tomasz Tunguz said the majority of operational work that keeps supply chains running remains highly manual.
He believes applying AI directly to logistics operations could unlock major efficiency improvements for companies moving goods around the world.
