Autone, a retail-focused supply chain platform founded in 2020, has made waves by securing a $17 million Series A funding round, led by General Catalyst, with participation from notable investors like Speedinvest, Y Combinator, and angels from luxury fashion giants such as LVMH, Sephora, and Moncler. This brings the company’s total funding to $20 million, having raised an earlier $3 million seed round. The platform’s purpose is clear: to help mid-market retailers and premium brands better manage inventory, forecast demand, and streamline supply chain operations.
Inventory planning has long been a challenge for the retail sector, especially in today’s landscape where businesses must navigate an increasing number of distribution channels and a more complex global supply chain. Many brands, particularly those in the mid-market and premium sectors, lack the financial muscle and resources that larger retailers possess. This has left many relying on outdated, legacy software that struggles to meet the demands of today’s fast-paced retail environment. Autone aims to fill this gap by providing a solution that forecasts demand more accurately, reduces waste, and eliminates manual, repetitive tasks.
Autone’s co-founder and CEO, Adil Bouhdadi, has a deep background in luxury fashion that dates back to the early 2000s. Raised in Paris, Bouhdadi became involved in sneaker culture before seeking a career in luxury fashion. With few industry connections, he took a creative approach to get his foot in the door—refreshing the LVMH career page until he landed an internship at Givenchy. This experience paved the way for roles at Alexander Wang, Victoria Beckham, and eventually Alexander McQueen, where Bouhdadi and his co-founder, Harry Glucksmann-Cheslaw, built the foundation for what would later become Autone.
At Alexander McQueen, the pair recognized the challenges facing retail companies operating in silos, where each department worked independently with little cross-functional collaboration. Most employees were using Excel to manage critical tasks, which led to inefficiencies and lost opportunities. To address this, Bouhdadi and Glucksmann-Cheslaw built an internal inventory platform that helped significantly boost the brand’s revenue over five years. This experience proved to be the spark that led to the creation of Autone.
Autone’s platform allows brands to forecast their inventory needs with greater precision, ensuring that raw materials are purchased at the right time, reducing the risk of overstocking or understocking. Bouhdadi highlights that with Autone, brands can reduce the time it takes to procure raw materials from three months to just one month, improving overall supply chain agility and minimizing risks.
Today, Autone has attracted an impressive roster of clients, including high-end brands like Courreges, Roberto Cavalli, Stussy, and Zadig&Voltaire. By offering a tailored solution to meet the unique challenges of mid-market and premium retailers, Autone is helping these companies thrive in an increasingly competitive environment. With its latest funding round, Autone is poised to expand its platform further and continue supporting retailers in optimizing their supply chains for better efficiency, profitability, and sustainability.
As the retail sector faces mounting pressure to adapt to shorter sales cycles and more complex distribution channels, platforms like Autone offer a critical lifeline, providing cutting-edge technology that bridges the gap between legacy systems and the demands of modern retail.
