Keychain Secures $30M Funding to Expand AI-Powered CPG Manufacturing Platform

CPG startup Keychain snags $30M to build in India, grow in the U.S. | TechCrunch

Keychain, a U.S. startup that helps consumer brands find manufacturing partners, has raised $30 million in fresh funding as it looks to scale its India-based development team to drive growth in North America. While headquartered in New York, Keychain operates as a distributed company with its core engineering and product development centered in India. The startup is doubling down on this model with the new funding, aiming to grow its engineering, product design, and analytics teams in Gurugram from 35 to 70 in the coming months, and to around 100 within a year. This India-based team already represents half of Keychain's 70-person global headcount, with about 20 employees in New York and the remainder in Austin, handling partnerships, go-to-market, and sales. The strategy is deliberate. Despite only serving Western markets, Keychain has built its primary development operations in in Gurugram -- which is the country's second-largest tech hub after Bengaluru -- to develop its consumer packaged goods (CPG) platform for clients in North America. The software platform already helps eight of the top 10 retailers, including 7-Eleven and Whole Foods, and seven of the top CPG brands, such as General Mills, connect with potentially suitable manufacturers, according to the startup. So why India? "It's the talent, depth, availability, and the speed with which you can access talent of that depth and availability [in India]," said Oisin Hanrahan, co-founder and CEO of Keychain, in an interview. Hanrahan co-founded Keychain in 2023 with Umang Dua -- his co-founder at Handy, a home services software startup later acquired by Angi -- and Jordan Weitz. Dua, who is originally from New Delhi, has been a "natural advantage" in building Keychain's core teams in Gurugram, Hanrahan said. Both Hanrahan and Dua spent time structuring Keychain's teams across India and the U.S., ultimately choosing India as the company's engineering hub. The decision was shaped by their experience at Handy and Angi, where they found it challenging to build a "sustainable, enduring" engineering team in the U.S. "We've thought about engineering as: how do we build a core, sustainable engineering organization that can get to scale reasonably quickly, that has endurance, that's got deep talent pools, and AI exposure that can take on real, important challenges, that's commercially minded? And we looked at where we had those teams before, when we were at Handy and Angi, and obviously, India is just an amazing location and really checks a lot of those boxes," Hanrahan told TechCrunch. Several U.S. startups, especially those developing SaaS solutions, base their engineering and product teams in cities like Bengaluru, Gurugram, and Noida. In recent months, the country has also seen a wave of multinational companies establishing offshore hubs, often referred to as global capability centers. But unlike most of these firms -- which also target Indian consumers even as many say India is harder to sell into -- Keychain stands apart. It more closely resembles companies like the UK's Deliveroo and Southeast Asia's Gojek and Grab -- all of which tap into India's tech talent for product development and R&D without having a market presence in the country. "India's position as a global technology hub has made it a compelling destination for product development, even for startups that have no direct business in the country," said Neha Singh, co-founder of the Bengaluru-based private market intelligence platform Tracxn, in an interview with TechCrunch. India's time zone also allows teams to work beyond U.S. hours, enabling near-continuous development cycles, Singh added. Keychain plans to use its India team not only to improve its current platform -- launched in February 2024 and used by over 20,000 brands and retailers to find manufacturing partners -- but also to build new AI-powered software that helps manufacturers manage their product cycles more efficiently and with better oversight. Called KeychainOS, the software will have four modules, with the first one already available. This module helps manufacturers comply with their food safety requirements, using AI to take quantitative data and convert it into a qualitative report that can be shared with auditors. The software can also pull data using natural language when an auditor requests a specific insight, Hanrahan told TechCrunch. The other three modules of the software will focus on purchasing and procurement, inventory, and production planning, the executive noted. The OS offering will compete with traditional ERP systems like Oracle, QAD, and Plex, which require add-ons like TraceGains and Redzone to be usable for manufacturers, the startup said. In addition to its KeychainOS for manufacturers, Keychain has embedded AI into its search and discovery layer to help retailers quickly find relevant third-party manufacturers for their products. Keychain already helps brands and retailers find third-party manufacturers in food, beverage, supplements, health, and beauty categories and is looking to expand its platform to pet and household products later this year. Currently, the startup serves businesses in the U.S. and Canada and is aiming to enter Europe later this year. While the startup offers its software free to brands and retailers, manufacturers pay to access the platform and get discovered. KeychainOS provides them with another reason to engage. Keychain already has over 30,000 manufacturers on its platform, with "hundreds and hundreds" paying to use it. These customers pay anywhere from $10,000 to over $100,000, Hanrahan said, adding that the startup earns around $20,000 per manufacturer annually on average. Keychain's Series B round was led by Wellington Management and existing investor BoxGroup, alongside other existing investors. With this funding, the startup has raised $68 million in total. Of that, Hanrahan told TechCrunch that the startup still has over $50 million in the bank. The startup had a post-money valuation of $260 million in its last round of $15 million in November 2024. Hanrahan did not disclose the current valuation but said it was a "good step up."

Keychain raises $30M and launches AI operating system for CPG manufacturers

Want smarter insights in your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get only what matters to enterprise AI, data, and security leaders. Subscribe Now The next time you shop at a grocery store, you might want to thank this AI startup for keeping the shelves stocked with your favorite food products -- and keeping them fresh and safe to eat. That would be Keychain an AI-powered marketplace for retailers to buy the consumer packaged goods (CPG) on their shelves started by former Angi (formerly Angie's List) CEO and Handy co-founder and CEO Oisin Hanrahan back in 2023. Today, Keychain is announcing a $30 million Series B funding round and unveiling KeychainOS, its new AI operating system designed to replace or integrate with legacy enterprise Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools in manufacturing. An ERP is enterprise software that integrates essential business functions -- such as finance, HR, manufacturing, procurement, and supply chain -- into one unified platform, giving organizations a real-time, single source of information about what's happening across the entire organization at any given moment. The global ERP market is expansive and growing fast, valued at an estimated $81.15 billion in 2024 and forecast to reach  $229.79 billion by 2032. It makes sense, then, that Keychain would try to take some of this market share, especially since they're already assisting CPG manufacturers with their current product search and cataloging software. In contrast to the current ERP market, KeychainOS is being touted as a faster, CPG-specific alternative to systems like Oracle, QAD, and Plex, which often require months of setup and multiple add-ons before becoming fully usable. The funding round was led by Wellington Management with participation from BoxGroup and other existing investors, bringing Keychain's total capital raised to $68 million just 18 months after launch. Building on a successful initial rollout Keychain's story began with a narrower entry point into the CPG supply chain. "We started with a big vision: build the operating system for CPG. Our first product was a search-and-discovery tool so brands and retailers could find manufacturers," said Hanrahan in a video call interview with VentureBeat recently. That initial product has grown quickly with more than 20,000 brands and retailers as customers, thousands of manufacturers -- and more than a billion dollars of search-and-discovery volume a month. In fact, Keychain states it's currently being used by 8 of the top 10 U.S. retailers and 7 of the top 10 CPG brands, including 7-Eleven, Whole Foods, and General Mills. Expanding into ERP KeychainOS extends beyond sourcing into the core functions of manufacturing operations. Hanrahan emphasized that the expansion builds on Keychain's existing customer base. Unlike traditional ERP systems, KeychainOS is designed to be implemented in days and integrates seamlessly with Keychain's sourcing platform. The system responds to a need Hanrahan says he hears directly from the market. "Every four to eight weeks we host industry dinners with 80 to 200 people," he told VentureBeat. "A constant theme is how hard it is to customize non-CPG software to run a plant, and the lack of connectivity between food safety, procurement, planning, and cost accounting." KeychainOS was born to solve these difficulties far more quickly, efficiently, and smoothly. "We're starting with customers who already use us for search and discovery -- people paying us millions in aggregate. It's a natural expansion," Hanrahan offered. "Ultimately, it'll be everywhere -- like water. We've already had teams rip out existing food-safety software and replace it with Keychain OS." Using AI to augment food safety and manufacturing process checking One of the ways KeychainOS differentiates itself from legacy ERP platforms is how it handles data entry. Traditional systems often require extensive manual input, which can slow operations and introduce errors. "Tools are fragmented and hard to use," Hanrahan stated. "Today the expectation is natural-language interfaces and automated data ingestion -- not smashing a keyboard to enter data." This reflects a design choice to minimize repetitive entry by enabling the system to capture and organize information in the background. The company is also expanding how workers interact with the software on the factory floor. At present, the primary interface is tapping on a screen through tablets placed in production environments. However, Keychain is building toward multimodal input. "On the floor, the primary interface is tapping on a screen -- today it's screen, tap, and type -- while we add computer vision, connected scales, and voice," Hanrahan explained. This means over time, facilities may be able to automatically record temperatures, weights, or other production data without manual input. Another feature of KeychainOS is the use of adaptive checklists powered by AI. Instead of static, paper-based forms where workers tick boxes regardless of context, the system can adjust based on responses. For example, if an operator records that two batches of a product or component were mixed together, the software automatically prompts additional required steps, rather than leaving that compliance process to chance. This allows food-safety audits and quality checks to be both standardized and responsive, ensuring that no steps are missed in daily operations. Competitive positioning The shift puts Keychain in competition with large, established, legacy ERP vendors. But Hanrahan believes the new KeychainOS arrives at a moment when manufacturers are crying out for alternatives. "We think the moment is here to build a better AI-native ERP without the 14 dropdowns and 17 checkboxes people hate in traditional SaaS," he said. The company is betting that its vertical focus and AI capabilities will appeal to manufacturers weary of fragmented software. Instead of stitching together different tools, KeychainOS offers integrated modules for compliance, planning, and traceability, with the ability to share data across the supply chain. Customer and investor perspective Whole Foods Market is among the retailers already using Keychain. Tom Hermes, Vice President of Sourcing and Product Development, said the tool helps his teams identify prospective manufacturers who can meet new product development requirements. Wellington Management's Molly Breiner praised Keychain for combining speed and substance in its growth, noting the company is reshaping the CPG supply chain into something more efficient and connected. With its new funding, Keychain plans to expand into additional consumer goods categories and broaden its AI capabilities. It recently entered the beauty and personal care sector, reflecting its wider applicability beyond food and beverage. Interested manufacturers, brands, and retailers can apply to join at keychain.com.

Keychain reels in $30M to make CPG manufacturers more efficient - SiliconANGLE

Keychain reels in $30M to make CPG manufacturers more efficient Keychain Group Inc., a startup that helps consumer packaged goods manufacturers boost operational efficiency, has raised $30 million in funding. Wellington Management and BoxGroup lead the Series B round. The announcement of the investment today comes less than a year after Keychain's previous raise, which valued it at $260 million. The new round reportedly gave a "good step up" to the company's valuation. Keychain provides a platform called KeychainOS that CPG manufacturers use to manage their day-to-day business activities. Many of the platform's features focus on streamlining the process of sourcing and managing product materials. According to Keychain, the software uses artificial intelligence to automate certain aspects of the workflow. When a manufacturer sets out to make a new product, the platform can find suppliers that might be capable of delivering the necessary ingredients. Keychain ranks those suppliers based on factors such as price, reliability and merchandise quality. It also tracks fluctuations in those metrics. The platform can, for example, highlight if the a certain component's price varies based on the time of year. After identifying a supplier that meets project requirements, manufacturers can use Keychain to place purchase orders. The platform automatically inputs information into form fields to reduce the risk of data entry errors. Additionally, it provides controls for ensuring that purchase orders comply with a company's internal policies. A monitoring dashboard enables manufacturers to centrally track the ingredients, finished products and packaging in their warehouses. Keychain can generate an alert when an item is about to run out or expire. According to the company, its platform decides when to send such alerts based on factors such as the amount of time that a supplier would require to prepare a new shipment. Keychain also promises to ease several related tasks. It provides a file repository for storing the documents that manufacturers must share during food safety audits. For retailers interested in launching new CPG products, Keychain provides a tool that can be used to find manufacturers with the necessary equipment. "Manufacturers are being asked to do more with less, and the systems they rely on simply aren't built for today's complexity," said Keychain Chief Executive Officer Oisin Hanrahan (pictured, center, with co-founders Jordan Weitz, Oisin Hanrahan, and Umang Dua.) "Applying AI allows KeychainOS to give manufacturers a smarter, faster way to run their facilities." Keychain disclosed on occasion of today's funding milestone that its platform processes more than $1 billion worth of manufacturing projects per month. The company says that its installed base includes 8 of the top 10 retailers in the U.S. and 7 of the 10 largest CPG brands.

Another AI Startup Just Scored $30 Million, This Time in the World of CPG Manufacturing

On Tuesday, New York-based Keychain, a firm that offers an online platform where packaged goods and private label companies can find manufacturing partners, announced that it had raised $30 million in a new Series B. "It's time for us to increase our investment, particularly in engineering, product design and analytics," says CEO and co-founder Oisin Hanrahan. Most of the incoming capital will go toward building out an AI-driven operating system called KeychainOS, which the firm says will help manufacturers "reduce waste, predict bottlenecks and improve real-time planning." The Series B was led by the investment firms Wellington Management and BoxGroup, with additional backing from other investors. In addition to standard institutional investment firms, the company's previous fundraising rounds have been backed by consumer packaged goods (CPG) mainstays like General Mills and Hershey. Keychain supports over 20,000 brands and retail customers, Hanrahan says, with more than 25,000 manufacturers in its system and revenue "well into the millions." The company, which counts 7-Eleven and Whole Foods among its clientele, raised an $18 million seed round in late 2023 and announced a $15 million Series A last fall, then another $5 million in February. "Before we did this B, we had not even spent all of the seed round," Hanrahan tells Inc. "So all of the A is still on the balance sheet, and I think we'd invested, like, three-quarters of the seed." Keychain is the latest company to woo investors by going all-in on artificial intelligence. The AI sector hoovered up 71 percent of all American venture capital investment in Q1 2025 according to research firm PitchBook. "It would not have been possible to build any of this company, at this level of investment, without huge amounts of AI," Hanrahan says. But that momentum probably won't last forever. Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI and the de facto poster child of the ongoing generative AI boom, said on Thursday that he thinks the sector is in a bubble -- even if the underlying technology is here to stay and it will be "a huge net win for the economy." At least for now, though, it's a boom time for anyone who can convince investors they have a good use-case for AI models. Keychain's focus was initially on search and discovery, using AI to help connect food and beverage brands with third-party manufacturing partners, Hanrahan says. The company has since expanded into other manufactured product categories, such as health supplements and beauty products, and is now focused on building out the AI-based KeychainOS system for manufacturers' enterprise resource planning, or ERP, business processes. Tom Hermes, Whole Foods Market's vice president of sourcing and product development, said in a statement shared by Keychain: "The tool allows our teams to better identify prospective manufacturers who can meet the requirements of our product roadmap." AI isn't the only headwind Keychain is taking advantage of. Last winter, Hanrahan told Inc. that the specter of Trump's tariffs -- which have since reshaped the global trade landscape -- had led to increased activity and search volume on the platform as American companies sought out domestic manufacturing partners. Back in 2012, Hanrahan co-founded the on-demand home services startup Handy. It was later acquired by the Angie's List parent company Angi Homeservices, with Hanrahan eventually becoming the CEO of that publicly-traded conglomerate. "I took a little break after twelve years in home services," Hanrahan recalls of his 2022 departure from Angi. He and Handy co-founder Umang Dua, who was previously CRO at Angi, started experimenting with a few different ideas for new businesses, and within a month or two had settled on building a software platform for CPG manufacturing.