OTHRSource started as an experiment out of Marrietta-based ice cream company High Road.
Now, the retail technology startup is raising a $2 million Series A to double its 12-person team and add more predictive data capabilities, CEO Mark Feinberg said.
Investors include Florida Funders, Entaire Global, CSN Investments, EAT Investments and Engage Ventures in Atlanta, Feinberg said.
Feinberg called OTHRSource “the Uber for in-store support” because it uses gig workers to help small brands keep their products stocked, updated and organized through a platform similar to that of Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER).
Workers can go to the platform and see which brands need help at which store, then sign up and complete the task within an allotted time.
The gig model helps small brands compete with large companies such as Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) or The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO), which have teams dedicated to making sure products are stocked and rotated in stores.
"It’s impossible to build a team to cover the footprint that these companies need covered,” Feinberg said. “It would be cost prohibitive. The Uber model works extremely well for them because it’s a variable cost.”
The idea for the startup began after ice cream company High Road sent out a call to its Facebook fans asking for help maintaining the product on the grocery store shelves in exchange for ice cream coupons.
In 2018, Feinberg and other investors built out a reporting an analytics dashboard and training platform to scale that model for other brands. OTHRSource has about 5,000 gig workers who use the platform and hundreds of brands, Feinberg said.
All the workers are trained and have an authorization form to do the in-store work and restock items from the backroom. If the item is not in the backroom, they go onto the OTHRSource platform to tell the brand which items need to be ordered.
Feinberg said the company grew 515% last year and expects an even higher rate this year.
“We have a huge focus on predictive analytics and leveraging data,” Feinberg said. “The goal is to help a brand become more autonomous. The more data that we have coming in, the greater the system is able to make recommendations, which will eventually be auto-triggered.”
OTHRSource is also looking to sell the aggregate data it collects to give a snapshot into specific markets, Feinberg said. The data may be useful, for example, to a kiosk company looking to stock popular brands. It could be useful to investors and other retailers, too.
“That’s beyond just the core service of what we’re providing to the brands,” Feinberg said.
