Last Updated: 20 August 2026
Rundoo, a startup building an AI-first platform for independent supply stores, is betting that the local hardware store, garden center, and paint shop deserve the same technology that runs billion-dollar retail chains. The company provides a single platform that replaces the patchwork of outdated software most independent retailers still rely on — covering everything from point-of-sale to inventory management to customer outreach.
Independent supply stores across the United States face a difficult combination of pressures. The U.S. hardware store industry is worth roughly $45 billion, but growth has been modest, and smaller operators are squeezed between big-box chains with massive digital budgets and online marketplaces that keep shifting customer expectations. At the same time, macroeconomic headwinds — tariffs, volatile material costs, and cautious consumer spending — have made running these businesses harder than ever.
Rundoo has raised $30 million in Series B financing led by Battery Ventures, with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and CRV. The round brings Rundoo's total funding to $48 million.
Independent supply stores are a broad and often overlooked category of American retail. They include hardware stores, paint shops, garden centers, farm and feed outlets, and lumber yards — businesses that serve contractors, farmers, homeowners, and local governments. While national chains dominate overall market share, independent stores remain deeply embedded in their communities, often running for decades across multiple generations.
The technology gap between these independents and their larger competitors is significant. The global market for hardware store software was valued at roughly $11 billion in 2025 and is expected to grow to roughly $20 billion by 2033, at about 8% per year — a sign that the sector is in the early stages of a long-overdue digital upgrade. For independent retailers, the challenge is not a lack of willingness to adopt new tools, but a lack of options designed specifically for the way they operate: complex pricing by customer, inventory spread across thousands of products from hundreds of vendors, and deep relationships with contractors and repeat buyers.
"Independent supply stores are one of the largest categories of American retail that still runs on decades-old systems. The owners aren't behind the times; their software is. We watched ServiceTitan close that same gap for the trades and become the operating system for an entire industry. Rundoo is doing it for the stores that supply those trades, and the loyalty of Rundoo's clients tells you everything about where this is headed."
Michael Brown, General Partner at Battery Ventures
Rundoo plans to use the new capital to grow its engineering team in Redwood City and expand its go-to-market operations in Chicago. The company currently serves over 500 stores across the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean, and plans to invest in additional technology for its clients.
A major focus of the investment will be further development of Rundoo's AI capabilities. The company's AI agent, called Dooey, already helps store owners generate purchase orders based on sales history and weather patterns, flag items that sold below a set margin, and receive daily performance summaries. Rundoo plans to deepen these features and expand Dooey's ability to automate routine decisions for store owners.
"Supply stores have been historically overlooked by Silicon Valley, despite being the lynchpin for the built-world and the conduit for a massive slice of global commerce. And it turns out these suppliers are every bit as eager to leverage modern technology including AI as their counterparts in other more visible industries. Nick and Andrew have built a world class team obsessed with making life easier for the owners and employees in this massive industry."
Kent Bennett, Board Member and Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners
Rundoo was founded in 2021 by Nick Hershey, a former hedge fund trader and Stanford math major, and Andrew Beckman, his college roommate who previously worked as a software engineer at Silicon Valley technology companies. The idea came from a simple frustration: the software running independent supply stores was old, slow, and fragmented, and there was no clean data powering these businesses. Hershey and Beckman set out to build a unified system from the ground up.
The platform brings together point-of-sale, e-commerce, customer relationship management, loyalty programs, general ledger, and more into a single system. For example, a paint store owner using Rundoo can connect directly to Benjamin Moore's tint software, so color formulas stay linked to customer records. A hardware store owner can ask Dooey to recap the day's activity in plain language — top sellers, new customers, unusual returns — the kind of analysis that larger chains employ entire teams to produce. Brandon Berry, owner of Berry's Hardware in Dumas, Arkansas, described the AI agent as his most trusted business partner.
"Our clients supply the materials that allow our communities to build and care for the world around us, and our technology helps them do that better and more efficiently. With continuing competition from big-box stores, macroeconomic challenges like tariffs and oil shocks, and ever-changing consumer expectations, owning an independent supply store is a challenging endeavor. Our platform gives independent store owners the same operational power that much larger corporations use to grow revenue and expand."
Nick Hershey, Co-founder and CEO of Rundoo
The company has about 50 employees across its two offices and describes itself as gross-margin profitable.
The Series B round was led by Battery Ventures, whose general partner Michael Brown led the investment and will join Rundoo's board. Brown previously backed ServiceTitan, a software platform for trades businesses that went public on the Nasdaq in December 2024. The comparison is notable: ServiceTitan built the operating system for contractors in plumbing, HVAC, and electrical services, and Rundoo is pursuing a similar strategy for the stores that supply those trades.
Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and CRV also participated in the round. Kent Bennett of Bessemer, who led the company's Seed and Series A rounds, serves on Rundoo's board. With this Series B, Rundoo's total funding stands at $48 million across three rounds.
