The retail industry faces increasing challenges in inventory planning, which is essential for maintaining profitability and meeting consumer demand. As distribution channels expand, supply chains grow more complex, and sales cycles shorten, mid-tier retailers and high-end brands often struggle with outdated software solutions.
Founded in 2020, Autone is designed to predict demand, enhance sales, and minimize waste and manual processes. The company has successfully raised $17 million in Series A funding, led by General Catalyst, with participation from previous investors including Speedinvest, YCombinator, Seedcamp, 2100VC, Motier, Financière Saint James, and angel investors affiliated with LVMH, Sephora, and Moncler. This funding round brings Autone’s total capital to $20 million, which includes a $3 million seed investment from Speedinvest. Competitors in the space include Anaplan, BlueYonder, and Relex.
Co-founder and CEO Adil Bouhdadi, who was raised in Paris, first immersed himself in sneaker culture in the early 2000s before transitioning to luxury fashion. Lacking industry connections, he diligently monitored the LVMH careers website until securing an internship at Givenchy, where he shadowed the CEO for six months.
After earning his master’s degree in 2013, Bouhdadi worked at Alexander Wang in New York and later at Victoria Beckham in London, before joining Alexander McQueen in 2015. Alongside colleague Harry Glucksmann-Cheslaw, now Autone’s CTO, Bouhdadi developed an in-house inventory platform that significantly boosted the brand’s revenue over the following five years.
The co-founders, who represent diverse backgrounds—Bouhdadi from a Muslim family with Moroccan roots and Glucksmann-Cheslaw from a Jewish family that fled the Holocaust—recognized a widespread issue at Alexander McQueen. “At Alexander McQueen, we realized that everyone in the company was using Excel. The biggest pain point for any retail company is that they’re all working in silos,” Bouhdadi stated in an interview with TechCrunch. “We built the alpha version of Autone there.”
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