San Francisco-based startup Loop is transforming how companies manage global supply chains by using artificial intelligence to predict disruptions before they happen, moving beyond traditional diagnostic tools to offer prescriptive solutions that help businesses save money and reduce risk.
Loop was founded by Matt McKinney and Shaosu Liu, who met while working at Uber. The company takes a unique approach to supply chain management, comparing their vision to healthcare that goes beyond annual checkups to teaching patients about nutrition and longevity.
The startup helps customers take unstructured data including PDFs with no optically-recognized characters, sheets of paper, and digital messages, and transforms it into structured information to automate tasks. Loop makes this automation possible by developing a harness that coordinates multiple AI models, some developed in-house and others from frontier AI labs.
This approach allows Loop customers to identify where they may be losing money or time, or spot risks of over- or under-supplying products. The co-founders say the system is effective enough to save customers thousands of dollars immediately upon implementation.
However, Loop’s ambition extends far beyond cost savings. The company is working to move from diagnostic capabilities to truly predictive intelligence by incorporating newer types of data from customers. Loop integrates with enterprise resource planning software, transportation management systems, and collects data from suppliers, warehouses, and other components of the supply chain.
McKinney said he and Liu founded Loop on the assumption that artificial intelligence technology wouldn’t be the limiting factor, though they initially expected the technology wouldn’t reach the necessary tipping point until around 2030. The faster-than-expected progress allows Loop to focus on delivering higher savings, lower risk, and broader resilience for customers.
Loop recently secured $95 million in Series C funding led by Valor Equity Partners, with participation from 8VC, Founders Fund, Index Ventures, and JPMorgan’s Growth Equity Partners.
