Mad Street Den, an artificial intelligence (AI) focused startup based in California, has raised $30 million in its Series C funding round. The company plans to use the fresh capital to achieve further revenue growth, improve logistics, insurance and expand retail categories across the US, UK, India, the Middle East, and Latin America. Additionally, the funds will also be used to expand its offerings across different industries.
The California-headquartered AI startup was founded in 2013 by Ashwini Asokan and Anand Chandrasekaran and registered in the US in 2016 as Mad Street Den Inc. Recently, the company acquired INTURN, a New York-based enterprise solution that helps retailers monetize slow-moving and excess inventory, faster.
“At MSD, we’ve gone step by step in this vision we’ve had from day zero, of building a truly general AI platform, taking a vertical-first approach into Retail and then scaling that horizontally across several industries,” Ashwini Asokan, CEO and founder of Mad Street Den, said.
The startup also recently acquired INTURN, a New York-based enterprise solution that helps retailers monetize slow-moving and excess inventory, faster.
Mad Street Den Expansion plans for AI offerings across industries
Mad Street Den has claimed to have witnessed strong demand for its AI platform over the past 24 months. It also added that a fresh wave of growth has been powered by both its retail segment (Vue.ai) as well as its foray into new verticals such as finance, insurance, healthcare, pharma, and logistics (getblox.ai).
In 2019, Mad Street Den had raised $17 Mn in a Series B funding round for its retail automation product Vue.ai. The funding round was led by Falcon Edge Capital.
Strong demand for AI platform
With the growing adoption of AI across various industries, AI-focussed startups have grabbed investors’ attention. For example, industrial AI startup Detect Technologies, AI startup Rephrase.ai, are some of the startups that raised funds last year.
According to a report, the global AI market was valued at $93.5 Bn in 2021, which was projected to soar to $1,811.8 Bn by 2030, expanding at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.1% between 2022 and 2030.
This significant funding round is expected to help Mad Street Den to scale its AI platform and expand its offerings across different industries. The company’s vertical-first approach to retail and the subsequent scaling across several industries has been a step-by-step process towards building a truly general AI platform.
Mad Street Den’s CEO, Ashwini Asokan, said, “What we needed at this stage of the company was partners that would help us bring discipline to the scaling and a very strong understanding of the GTM levers that get unlocked with building a horizontal AI platform for large scale enterprises.”
The company’s recent acquisition of INTURN, a New York-based enterprise solution for retailers, is also expected to help the company in expanding its offerings and increasing its revenue growth. The strong demand for the company’s AI platform over the past two years, driven by its retail segment (Vue.ai) as well as its foray into new verticals such as finance, insurance, healthcare, pharma, and logistics (getblox.ai), has also been a positive factor in the company’s growth.
Overall, this funding round is a significant milestone for Mad Street Den and is expected to take the company to new heights. The funding round was led by Avatar Growth Capital and saw participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital and Alpha Wave Global (formerly Falcon Edge Capital).
