Ox Raises $3.5M in Seed Funding
From the start, Ox’s mission has been to level the playing field for retailers by making technology that’s accessible, scalable, and good for business. When we set out to build the best end-to-end solution for retailers, we had no idea what was on the horizon.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the country shut down, our vision was actualized. Retailers needed a fast and simple eCommerce and omnichannel solution to meet growing demands of curbside, BOPIS, and fast delivery.
Today we’re happy to share that Ox has raised $3.5M to expand our operations and assist more retailers in supply chain optimization using machine learning. We’re excited to use this seed funding to further expand our portfolio to help more industry-leading retail companies integrate a complete end-to-end solution.
The round was led by notable investors MaC Venture Capital and Cortado Ventures, with additional participation from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Vuzix, Florida Funders, KCRise Fund and Willow Growth Partners. The company intends to use this funding to invest in partnerships, expand its operations and develop a wider in-house team. With its recent round of funding and continued success throughout the past 11 months, Ox expects to see exponential growth in the next quarter.
The Future is Fulfillment
Customers are demanding speed and convenience at an ever-growing pace since the outbreak of COVID, forcing retailers to rethink their supply chain and overall customer experience and begin providing solutions like BOPIS, curbside, and store delivery.
In order to meet these needs, retailers have to optimize their fulfillment.
Ox was designed to help businesses meet these ever-growing consumer needs for fast shipping and in-store pickup, by eliminating the time that supply chains spend manually assigning work and tracking performance.
Through its machine learning software, Ox has created a process for workforce optimization, providing management staff with a way to maximize productivity, automate work assignments, gain visibility over orders and measure employee performance. This novel system, which transforms the omnichannel retail method, has attracted industry leaders to the company, whose clientele includes numerous Fortune 500 companies.
“I realized that in order to keep up with the massive and ever-growing retail market, traditional supply chains needed help catching up to the competition. This is when I began developing an AR platform for warehouse order picking. I had previously worked in a warehouse, so I knew how to best optimize the systems that were already in place while using my background in hardware prototyping and software development to create something entirely new. Ox provides its customers with a seamless experience for maximizing efficiency in all areas of fulfillment, from tailored onboarding of employees to real-time built-in associate messaging.”
- Charu Thomas, Founder and CEO of Ox
Ox’s state-of-the-art platform integrates with a company’s current order management system and provides tools—unique to each retailer—to transform its brick-and-mortar stores into micro-distribution centers through optimized pick-from-store operations.
Order-picking typically accounts for about 55% of warehouse operating costs, but Ox can help cut those costs. After implementing Ox into its supply chain, employees never have to touch a button, worry about scanners or carry around a handheld device again. Ox’s augmented reality technology can make picking orders up to 15% faster and 80% more accurate than any other existing technology.
Looking Ahead
After approximately a year on the market, Ox’s platform has proven its success in the industry with a 3600% return on investment. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated an increased need for retailers to create a fast and simple omnichannel solution, and this seed funding round will be used to further expand Ox’s portfolio to help more industry-leading retail companies integrate a complete end-to-end solution.
Our mission is to help more companies seamlessly automate omnichannel retail operations. Thank you to our customers, partners, and employees for making our growth and momentum possible.
