Atlanta Tech Founder Derek Osei Raises $45 Million Series B for AI Startup

Derek Osei's Atlanta-based startup Clearlane AI South closed a $45 million Series B funding round this week, positioning the supply chain forecasting company to expand beyond its initial base of mid-sized retail customers into manufacturing and grocery distribution clients.

Osei co-founded Clearlane AI South four years ago after working at a large retailer's supply chain division, where he says demand forecasting was still largely handled through spreadsheets and gut instinct despite the availability of far more sophisticated tools. The company's software uses historical sales data, weather patterns, and regional economic indicators to help retailers reduce both stockouts and excess inventory.

"Supply chain forecasting has a bad reputation because most companies still do it manually, and manual forecasting is always going to be wrong more often than it's right," Osei said. "We built a system that gets a little smarter with every sales cycle a customer runs through it, which compounds into a meaningful accuracy advantage over time."

The new funding round will be used to build out a dedicated team focused on manufacturing and grocery distribution use cases, sectors Osei says have expressed strong early interest but require forecasting models tuned differently than retail. Clearlane AI South currently serves roughly 55 retail customers and employs 95 people, the majority based at its Atlanta office.

Investors in the round included two venture firms with existing Georgia portfolio investments, both of which cited Atlanta's growing reputation as a secondary tech hub as a factor in their decision.