Artificial Intelligence-powered manufacturing platform Keychain has raised $10 million (€8.6 million) to support its expansion, launching its next-generation supply chain and product management platform as it targets private label brands.
British supermarket giant Tesco is among the investors of the fund that is backing this latest capital raising by company cofounded by Irish entrepreneur Oisin Hanrahan.
The new operating system, Keychain360, will help give retailers full control over their supply chains, helping them manage their private label brands more efficiently and reduce product development timelines.
Keychain, initially launched in the US before it expanded into Ireland in September before following with the UK this month.
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“Keychain 360 is a true supply chain insights tool for the biggest brands and retailers in the world. We’ve already got some of them using it,” explained Mr Hanrahan, saying that he expected it to significantly expand the business.
“We think that the world is moving more and more to private label and to outsource.”
The company is planning further expansion in Europe.“We have a lot more expansion to do,” he said. “There’s a lot more features and there’s a lot more markets that people are pushing us to go into.”
Keychain360 is the third element of Keychain’s system that puts brands, retailers and manufacturers in touch with manufacturing partners, cutting out brokers and making the process more efficient and cost-effective, according to the company.
The launch is part of the company’s European expansion. Keychain counts eight of the 10 top US retailers among its customers, with seven of the top 10 CPG brands, including General Mills, the Hershey Company, and Schreiber Foods, also using the platform.
It has raised $78 million to date, including a $30 million Series B funding round led by Wellington Management and existing investor BoxGroup.
Among the investors backing the latest funding round is W23 Global, a fund backed by well-known groups such as Tesco, Ahold Delhaize, Woolworths Group, Empire Company Limited and Shoprite Group.
“Keychain’s AI-powered platform streamlines private label sourcing and enables retailers to bring quality private label products to customers faster and more efficiently,” said Ingrid Maes, chief executive and chief information officer of W23 Global.
