Atlanta startup Stord Inc. is the fifth local startup this year to reach a $1 billion valuation, as supply chain technology investments have reached a record high.
Stord’s latest, $90 million round was led by Kleiner Perkins and brings the startup’s total funding to $205 million, according to a company announcement Tuesday. New investors Lux Capital, D1 Capital and Palm Tree Crew participated in the round, as well as existing investors BOND, Dynamo Ventures, Founders Fund, Lineage Logistics and Susa Ventures.
Stord has a cloud-based supply chain management software and a logistics network to help mid-market businesses deliver products more efficiently. Its logistics network has more than 500 warehouses and over 20,000 carriers, covering about 99% of the U.S. for two-day shipping. The startup aims to help businesses compete with Amazon Prime's fast shipping capabilities.
Demand drove $52 billion into the supply chain technology space last year. Increased interest in e-commerce sparked by the pandemic strained supply chains, making innovation in the industry necessary to keep up with consumer expectations. Global e-commerce is set to surpass $5 trillion in 2021, according to an Insider Intelligence report.
Atlanta is a growing hub for supply chain innovation as technology founders build off the city’s legacy logistics infrastructure. Roadie, a same-day delivery platform, sold to United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) last week, and logistics payment startup RoadSync is gearing up to move into a 31,000 square foot Midtown office.
Stord opened a 386,000-square-foot distribution center southwest of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in August. That’s the first piece of Stord's physical logistics system it will run itself.
The latest funding round comes with the announcement that Stord has bought Fulfillment Works, a direct-to-consumer fulfillment provider with warehouses on both coasts.
“This new funding and the outstanding Fulfillment Works team bring us that much closer to our goal to being the last logistics partner businesses will ever need,” CEO Sean Henry said in a statement.
Stord has seen booming growth in the past year that catapulted it to unicorn status. It reached more than $100 million in revenue and grew from 160 to 400 employees, according to the funding announcement. It has 70 job openings on its website. In 2020, Stord bought Cove Logistics to expand into freight services.
The startup, founded by Henry and chief technology officer Jacob Boudreau, came out of Georgia Tech's CREATE-X incubator for students and recent graduates in 2015.
Stord is the fifth Atlanta startup to reach unicorn status this year, showcasing the massive growth within the local technology ecosystem. Local technology leaders say Atlanta historically only had one or two $1 billion companies at a time. FullStory, Flock Safety, Calendly and SalesLoft also reached that milestone this year.
Those companies’ massive growth rates correspond with a capital influx that’s affecting the entire innovation ecosystem. Atlanta startups have raised more capital than ever before, and a record number of investment firms are opening in the city.
