Auger, a new logistics startup founded by former Amazon Consumer chief, raises $100 million in funding
Nickie Louise
Posted On October 9, 2024
Dave Clark, the former Amazon Consumer CEO who helped build the company into a logistics powerhouse, is now turning his attention to improving Fortune 500 supply chains. On Tuesday, Clark announced the launch of a supply chain management software startup Auger with $100 million in backing from investment firm Oak HC/FT.
With Auger, Clark aims to help midsize enterprises and Fortune 500 companies improve their supply chain operations using artificial intelligence and automation. Auger’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform will provide real-time data and insights, allowing companies to address supply chain issues more efficiently. The startup plans to unveil its product roadmap in the coming months.
During his 23-year tenure at Amazon, Clark oversaw the company’s evolution into a shipping powerhouse, rising to the No. 2 executive role alongside Jeff Bezos and later Andy Jassy. He’s now leveraging that experience, combined with lessons from his brief stint at Flexport, to take on the supply chain challenges faced by midsize enterprises with global operations.
In an interview with Fortune, Clark explained that traditional supply chain software is often disjointed, with systems that don’t integrate well. “A lot of the world’s supply chain still runs on Excel,” Clark said, describing how many businesses rely on analysts to piece together data from different sources. Auger’s goal is to change that by allowing users to get real-time answers to critical questions about shipments, forecasting, and other key areas through simple text-based queries.
“How do we allow companies to run their supply chains with the same level of simplicity and elegance as the consumer applications that they use every day?” Clark asked rhetorically. “The technology totally exists to do that, and I think it just hasn’t been put together.”
Clark sees Auger’s primary customers as companies that have complex global supply chains but lack the resources to build massive in-house technology teams. Initially, Auger will focus on U.S.-based businesses, but Clark has plans to eventually expand into sectors like government and defense.
Clark recently relocated from Texas back to Washington State to launch Auger. The startup, which currently has around 30 employees, plans to expand to 40 within the next six months. While the company hasn’t yet released a product, Clark is confident in the potential of the AI-powered platform to modernize supply chain management.
Clark left Amazon in 2022, following his successful tenure as the head of its global consumer business, where he was instrumental in launching the company’s last-mile delivery network and developing a regional warehouse structure that sped up shipping times. His move to Flexport was partly driven by disagreements with Jassy, Amazon’s current CEO, but after just a year at Flexport, Clark was ousted by founder Ryan Petersen in a surprising leadership shakeup.
Now, with Auger, Clark is betting that his deep expertise in logistics and technology will help midsize enterprises run their supply chains with the same simplicity and efficiency as the consumer apps they use every day.
Dave Clark (Courtesy of Auger)
