E-commerce inventory platform startup Centro launches with close of $2m pre-seed funding round

Centro, an automated inventory control centre for e-commerce brands, has secured a $2 million in a pre-seed funding led by Ripple Ventures and 2048VC, with participation from Valia Ventures and Comma Capital. Centro’s angels and advisors including individuals from WeMakeWebsites, Canada Goose, and Uber.

The cash will help the startup expand its selection of offerings to include forecasting and procurement automation features to kick off new marketing initiatives throughout North America.

“Prior to founding Centro with Jamyang, I was leading inventory operations at SSENSE, an online luxury multi-brand retailer with a worldwide customer base. When the global pandemic hit, I experienced firsthand how delicate the global supply chain truly was,” says Centro Co-Founder, Andrew Liu.

“While trying to adapt to rapid change across supply and demand, I found there was an inherent lack of inventory tools for modern brands. Jamyang, who was working as a strategist at Shopify at the time, validated this same narrative at other large scale companies so we set out to shake up the inventory ops space.”

“By offering automated inventory and supply chain tools for brands at any scale, Centro has an immediate impact on a brand’s bottom line,” says Jamyang Tenzin, Centro CEO and Co-Founder.

“We help e-commerce retailers quickly and efficiently stay on top of inventory supplies and plan for peak sales windows to maximise revenue opportunities. We’ve found that growing brands will face on average $120,000+ in unforeseen risk across their supply chain, and this is rapidly multiplying with the holidays approaching.” 

“Centro is perfectly timed to address the fashion retail sector’s escalating demand for a centralised inventory hub. As the pioneer in SaaS solutions for inventory risk management and logistics, automation is fuelilng the platform’s expansion and unlocking valuable revenue streams,” says Dom Lau, Partner at Ripple Ventures.

“With a top tier team specialising in retail inventory, Centro is delivering a game changing solution precisely when supply chain challenges are plaguing the retail industry.”

“Inventory lies at the heart of every retailer's operation, and also presents one of the oldest challenges in retail. Properly accounting for and managing inventory is just plain hard, due to supply chain disruptions, production delays, and unexpected spikes in demand,” says Neha Khera, Partner at 2048VC.

“The team at Centro has lived and breathed this problem, and their data-first approach, coupled with an inventory control centre, is truly game changing."