Manufacturers have a multitude of ways to sell products, but actually getting set up on the various digital marketplaces available can be a time-consuming hassle. Warehouse management software firm LA Software aims to ease that problem, making inventory simpler across e-commerce and retail industries.
The company’s cloud software allows retailers to streamline the sales process, capturing orders from across a variety of sales channels — like Amazon, Walmart and company-owned, in-store purchases — and efficiently pick and ship items to consumers and stores.
“We help retailers, e-commerce players and third-party logistics companies manage their inventory effectively,” said Cagdas Yildiz, co-founder and executive vice president (pictured below). “And when they're integrated into sales channels easily, they also increase their sales because more people can see their products.”
Though LA Software is based in Turkey, the company recently opened its North American headquarters — and chose Chicago as home base.
“We selected Chicago as our base because, location-wise, it's the perfect spot for North America,” Yildiz said. “We are very close to the East Coast, we are close to the West Coast, so it's a great location for us.”
For many companies, international expansion is a long term goal. But the company’s jump to the U.S. came after less than four years in business, thanks in part to 1871-based Sente’s accelerator program that aims to help launch small startups into global companies.
“We always had the goals to extend our operations to North America, but Sente made a good trigger there earlier than we planned,” Yildiz said. “They did a great job [showing us how] doing business in the U.S. is different than the rest of the world, how we should be managing our financials, and how we should be searching for investors here.”
Currently, the company is looking to raise a seed round with the intent of hiring and acquiring clients as fast as possible. The company closed out 2016 with eight stateside clients, mainly smaller businesses. Their long-term plans including going after larger clients with the help of a larger sales and marketing staff.
Image via LA Software
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