BackOps raises $26M to automate global supply chains with AI

AI-native operating system aims to boost customer response times, shrink manual operations costs

BackOps stated its AI platform has been shown to nearly double customer response times. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

BackOps AI, a San Francisco-based software company developing an AI-native operating system for supply chain operations, announced Thursday it has raised $26 million in Series A funding. 

The funding round – led by Theory Ventures – will go towards scaling the company’s team and speeding up its product roadmap.

BackOps stated in a news release sent to FreightWaves that its AI platform has been shown to accelerate customer response times by 93%.

“Supply chains are incredibly complex systems with dozens of vendors, tools, and workflows involved in every shipment,” said BackOps CEO Sean McCarthy, in the release. “Companies need systems that go beyond tracking the problems, they need help solving them. We built BackOps to connect those pieces together and automate the work logistics teams have historically had to do manually.”

Addressing a ‘$100B inefficiency’

This funding follows a $6 million round led by Construct Capital in June 2025. McCarthy, who previously worked with warehouse operations teams at Amazon, identified a “$100 billion inefficiency” in manual logistics labor.

The BackOps’ platform works to streamline the many components of a supply chain. The company offers two core products: its Al Process Center and Relay.

Relay, the company’s flagship product, runs across communication channels like email and Slack to detect issues and resolve them automatically. It can file carrier claims, initiate reshipments and respond to customer inquiries.

The system is designed with a “human in the loop” approach, allowing teams to define approval points and escalation paths so that the automation doesn’t run unchecked.

Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures, stated in Thursday’s BackOps release that most of the work keeping supply chains running is “painfully manual.”

“BackOps is building the intelligent operating layer for logistics,” Tunguz said. “By applying Al directly to the operational fabric of supply chains, BackOps has the potential to unlock massive efficiency gains for companies moving goods around the world.”

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Caleb Revill

Caleb Revill is a journalist, writer and lifelong learner working as a Junior Writer for Firecrown. When he isn't tackling breaking news, Caleb is on the lookout for fascinating feature stories. Every person has a story to tell, and Caleb wants to help share them! He can be contacted by email anytime at Caleb.Revill@firecrown.com.