Sonae venture capital joins $30 million round for US company Keychain
This is a reinforcement of Bright Pixel's investment in US technology, which will finance the launch of a new operating system for packaging companies.
Bright Pixel, the venture capital arm of the Sonae group, announced on Wednesday that it had increased its investment in the US company Keychain by participating in the $30 million (around €25.7 million) Series B financing round raised by the New York-based technology company.
The investment in which the Portuguese company Bright Pixel participated was led by asset manager Wellington Management and also included other former investors, including the BoxGroup fund, bringing the total amount raised by the US start-up to $68 million (€58 million), less than two years after the company was launched.
The funds recently raised by Keychain will support the launch of its second technological product, called ‘KeychainOS’, which consists of an operating system based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for manufacturers and packaging companies to improve production cycle management, according to information released by the former Sonae IM, based in Maia.
“Keychain is establishing itself as a key tool in the application of AI to bring efficiency and facilitate the connection between manufacturers, packaging companies and retailers. This round of financing is a validation of Keychain’s journey and we are excited to strengthen our investment and continue to support its growth in this new phase”, says Bright Pixel director Manuel Queiroz.
Founded in 2023, Keychain is dedicated to automating the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry and has a network of more than 30,000 manufacturers and 20,000 brands and retailers, including 7-Eleven, Whole Foods, and General Mills, owner of Cheerios and Golden Grahams. The company is headquartered in New York, but has offices in Austin and Delhi.
“Manufacturers are being pressured to do more with less, and the systems they rely on are simply not prepared for today’s complexity”, says Oisin Hanrahan, co-founder and CEO of Keychain, who criticises the competition in the management software market, “such as Oracle, QAD or Plex, which can take months or years to implement and then require add-ons such as TraceGains or Redzone to be functional”.
Bright Pixel Capital’s first investment in this US startup took place just six months ago, when the Sonae group’s technology investment vehicle led the previous round worth five million dollars (approximately 4.85 million euros).
