Who founded RetailReady?

RetailReady was founded by Elle Smyth, Sarah Hamer in 2024.

Who are RetailReady's investors?

RetailReady's investors include Y Combinator, 640 Oxford, Duke Capital Partners, Lombardstreet Ventures.

Where is RetailReady headquartered?

RetailReady is headquartered in San Francisco, US.

RetailReady

YC W24

San Francisco, US · Founded 2024 · 12 employees · Hiring · 4 known investors

Find your way into RetailReady

407 people in our graph share verified history with the RetailReady team — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Maddie Coughlinunlockedknows Elle Smyth · together at BlackRock (overlapped)

×2knows the team · via Duke University

×6knows the team · via BlackRock

×2knows the team · via Georgia Institute of Technology

knows the team · via Stord

RetailReady builds an AI-powered platform that uses large language models and computer vision to automate warehouse compliance and shipping practices for brands and retailers. The technology helps companies avoid revenue loss from compliance chargebacks in the $40 billion retail compliance market.

AI & Machine Learning Enterprise Software Logistics & Supply Chain Retail Tech SaaS B2B Compliance Logistics Supply Chain AIUnited States of AmericaAmerica / Canada

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (W24)

RetailReady was founded in 2024 by Elle Smyth and Sarah Hamer.

Elle Smyth inCo-Founder / CEOShe holds an engineering degree from Duke University and previously worked at BlackRock and Stord.30 Under 30 2025

Sarah Hamer inCo-FounderSarah holds an industrial engineering degree from Georgia Tech and worked as an engineer at Microsoft before joining Stord, a supply chain software company, where she identified retail compliance challenges that led to founding RetailReady with a co-founder she met there.30 Under 30 2025

Investors · 4

Y Combinator✓ verifiedSan Francisco · $500K

640 OxfordDetroit · $250K – $400K

Duke Capital PartnersDurham

Lombardstreet VenturesreportedWoodside · $500K

The YC application· Winter 2024 batch

▶ Application video — watch on YC ↗

Alumni Q&A

What is the core problem you are solving? Why is this a big problem? What made you decide to work on it?: Retailers deduct chargebacks from brands when orders arrive non-compliant, averaging 3% of a brand's gross invoice and totaling an estimated $40B per year. The founders identified the problem while leading warehouse operation shifts, where they saw that shipping compliance was handled manually through 100+ page retailer requirement documents rather than tracked or enforced systematically.

Summarized from the founders' answers on their Y Combinator profile.

Images

Competitors · 2

by search overlap

retail next12 shared keywordsRetailNext offers a retail analytics platform combining foot traffic analytics, asset protection, and in-store shopper journey insights, with a conversational AI layer (Pulse AI) for querying store data in plain language. It serves retailers' operations, loss prevention, merchandising, store design, and marketing teams.

Storesight8 shared keywordsStoresight provides brands with real-time visual monitoring of in-store product placement and shelf conditions across thousands of retail locations, enabling faster identification and response to execution issues during product launches. The platform uses AI-powered tools to verify planogram compliance, track inventory, and benchmark competitive positioning.

Companies competing with RetailReady for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.

In the news

YC grad, RetailReady raises $3.3M for an AI warehouse app that hopes to save brands billions | TechCrunchtechcrunch.com · Jun 2024

📦 RetailReady - Automating supply chain complianceycombinator.com · Feb 2024

Frequently asked questions

What does RetailReady do?: RetailReady builds an AI-powered platform that uses large language models and computer vision to automate warehouse compliance and shipping practices for brands and retailers. The technology helps companies avoid revenue loss from compliance chargebacks in the $40 billion retail compliance market.
Who founded RetailReady?: RetailReady was founded by Elle Smyth, Sarah Hamer in 2024.
Who are RetailReady's investors?: RetailReady's investors include Y Combinator, 640 Oxford, Duke Capital Partners, Lombardstreet Ventures.
Where is RetailReady headquartered?: RetailReady is headquartered in San Francisco, US.