Optoro Explained

Optoro, Inc.
Type:Privately held company
Foundation: (as eSpot)
Founders:Tobin Moore
Adam Vitarello
Key People:Amena Ali, CEO; Adam Vitarello, Chief Strategy Officer
Industry:Computer software, reverse logistics
Homepage:http://optoro.com/
Location City:Washington, D.C., U.S.

Optoro is a reverse logistics technology company that works with retailers and manufacturers to manage and then resell their returned and excess merchandise.[1] These products, which range from consumer electronics to home goods to clothing, are automatically listed on online marketplaces, including Amazon, eBay, Buy.com, BestBuy.[2] Optoro also liquidates goods in bulk through its other proprietary website.[3]

History

Optoro was founded as eSpot Deals in 2004 by Tobin "Toby" Moore[4] [5] [6] while he was a student at Brown University.[7] The business was initially run out of an attic above the garage at Moore's house before opening a 1,200-square-foot storefront in Georgetown.[8] Moore and co-founder Adam Vitarello, now Optoro's president, opened one of the first eBay drop off stores in Washington, DC.[9] In 2008, the pair opened an office and warehouse in Lanham, Maryland, where they processed goods from retailers. In 2010, eSpot Deals pivoted away from processing returns directly and incorporated as Optoro, Inc. Tobin and Adam were joined by CTO Jessica Szmajda,[10] and built a new plan to deliver technology solutions to retailers to handle their returned and excess goods. In September 2013, Optoro moved its corporate headquarters to a 13,000-square-foot office in downtown Chinatown, D.C.[11] In June 2016, Optoro moved again to an office space located in the Metro Center neighborhood of Washington, D.C., with double the square footage, holding around 160 people.[12] In February 2021, Optoro shut down its direct-to-consumer eCommerce website, blinq.com.

Products and services

Optoro's main product is a software-as-a-service called OptiTurn, which is used in retailers' warehouses to sort, process, and resell clients' returned and excess inventory.[13] The software tracks and dispositions inventory as it flows through a warehouse until it reaches consumers.[14] Using OptiTurn, workers mark the conditions of returned products as new, open box, refurbished, or used in good condition.[15] OptiTurn analyzes this, along with other product information, to divert items to the channel that will get retailers the most money back.[16] Possible dispositions include selling directly to consumers, reselling to wholesalers, returning to vendors for repair, donating, or recycling.

OptiTurn lists products with a high resale value automatically on multiple online marketplaces under the BLINQ brand. The software will disposition other goods that will net a higher recovery when sold in bulk to be resold under the BULQ brand on BULQ.com.

Environment

In March 2015, Optoro started a dedicated sustainability team to measure the transportation and waste impacts of the returns industry and the effects that Optoro's solution has on retailers' carbon footprints.[17]

Financing

In July 2013, Optoro received $23.5 million in Series B funding from three primary investors: Revolution LLC, headed by former AOL executives Steve Case, Ted Leonsis, and Donn Davis; Grotech Ventures; and SWaN & Legend Venture Partners, which was co-founded by Fredrick D. Schaufeld.[18] Optoro was Revolution Growth's fifth investment in its "speed-ups" investment fund, which was created to support the growth of newly formed companies and to widen the audience for their products.

In December 2014, Optoro closed $50 million in funding in a Series C round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, as well as Generation Investment Management, a VC company founded by Al Gore.[19] The financing from KPCB came from its Green Growth Fund.[20]

In July 2015, Optoro received $40 million in debt financing from TriplePoint Venture Growth and Square 1 Bank to support scaling its software and its consumer base.[21]

In December 2016, Optoro raised $30 million in Series D funding from UPS, Revolution Growth, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Generation Investment Management, Tenfore Holdings, SWaN and Legend Venture Partners and the Maryland Venture Fund.[22]

Awards

Notes and References

  1. News: Where Your Unwanted Christmas Gifts Get a Second Life. Wall Street Journal. 2015-12-29. 0099-9660. Serena. Ng. Laura. Stevens.
  2. Web site: Optoro Gets More Funding, Adds Board Member. November 25, 2013. August 19, 2015. DC Inno. Mitchell. Billy.
  3. News: In Season of Returning, a Start-Up Tries to Find Homes for the Rejects. The New York Times. December 29, 2015. Hiroko. Tabuchi. Hiroko Tabuchi.
  4. Web site: staff. Michelai Graham /. 2019-12-09. Optoro lands a partnership with IKEA to reduce waste from returns. 2020-09-08. Technical.ly DC. en.
  5. Web site: These D.C.-area tech firms have all raised $100M or more. They also got PPP loans. . Andy Medici . July 7, 2020 . 2020-09-08. www.bizjournals.com.
  6. Web site: Adams. Susan. Optoro Is Building A Billion-Dollar Business Helping Companies Cope With A Glut Of Rejected Stuff. 2020-09-08. Forbes. en.
  7. News: Handling Holiday Returns Helps Fuel Lanham Firm. Mirabella. Lorraine. December 13, 2014. The Baltimore Sun. August 19, 2015.
  8. Web site: Optoro Is Building A Billion-Dollar Business Helping Companies Cope With A Glut Of Rejected Stuff. Adams. Susan. Forbes. en. 2020-04-29.
  9. News: Four Task Masters to Make Life Easier. Ghiloni. Kate. September 4, 2005. The Washington Post. August 19, 2015.
  10. News: Graham. Michelai. 2020-12-02. Power Moves: Jess Szmajda left her CTO role at Axios for AWS . 2021-05-13. Technical.ly DC. en.
  11. Web site: Reverse Logistics Firm Optoro Opens 13,000-square-foot Office in Chinatown Today. September 20, 2013. August 19, 2015. Elevation DC. Jacob. Allyson.
  12. News: Optoro to expand with move to new D.C. office space. Sernovitz. Daniel J.. December 24, 2015. Washington Business Journal. July 6, 2016.
  13. News: The Rise of Return-Anything Culture. Lam. Bourree. December 30, 2015. The Atlantic. December 30, 2015.
  14. News: The Cure for Retailers' Holiday Returns Hangover. Null. Christopher. December 22, 2015. Rewrite. December 29, 2015.
  15. News: Maryland Startup Redirects River Of Rejected Gifts. Douglas. Dianna. January 1, 2016. NPR. January 2, 2016.
  16. News: A growing holiday pastime: returning those unwanted gifts. Li. Shan. December 25, 2015. Los Angeles Times. December 29, 2015.
  17. Web site: Optoro Hires Sustainability Director, Joins Mayor's Smarter DC Challenge. March 31, 2015. August 19, 2015. DC Inno. Bing. Chris.
  18. Web site: Revolution Growth Fund Invests $23.5M in Optoro to Find Unwanted Goods A home. July 17, 2013. August 19, 2015. VentureBeat. Grant. Rebecca.
  19. Web site: Turning Unwanted Goods Into New Sales, Optoro Raises $50 Million. December 9, 2014. August 19, 2015. TechCrunch. Shieber. Jonathan.
  20. News: Social Enterprise Optoro Raises $50M In Round Led By Kleiner Perkins. Field. Anne. December 14, 2014. The Washington Post. August 19, 2015.
  21. News: Optoro Picks up $40 Million in Debt Financing. Jayakumar. Amrita. July 28, 2015. The Washington Post. August 19, 2015.
  22. News: Tech firm Optoro joins forces with UPS as part of $30 million investment. Washington Post. 2016-12-23.
  23. Web site: Technology Fast 500. November 14, 2013. September 20, 2015. Deloitte.
  24. Web site: Deloitte's 2014 Technology Fast 500. December 11, 2014. September 30, 2015. Deloitte.
  25. Web site: Deloitte's 2015 Technology Fast 500 Ranking. November 13, 2015. November 16, 2015. Deloitte.
  26. Web site: Disruptor 50: No. 38 Optoro. CNBC Disruptor 50. 12 May 2015. 2015-11-24.
  27. Web site: Optoro Co-Founders Win 2015 EY Entrepreneur Awards For Business Growth. June 19, 2015. August 19, 2015. DC Inno. Bousquet. Chris.
  28. News: Winners of the Circulars Awards Announced at Davos. Dumaine. Brian. January 19, 2016. Fortune. July 6, 2016.
  29. Web site: Deloitte's 2015 Technology Fast 500 Ranking. November 16, 2016. November 16, 2016. Deloitte.

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