Everything you touch went through a distribution network you’ve likely never heard of. Behind every doorknob, medical device, and machine lies a vast, complex network of suppliers and distributors. These are the companies that move the world — sourcing parts, managing logistics, answering questions, and ensuring every product gets to its designated customer at the correct time.
Despite our reliance on distribution networks, the workflows that power their infrastructure remain stuck in the past. For example, a single distributor might manage thousands of SKUs, each with its own specifications, certifications, installation manuals, and support requirements. Their sales and support teams then field a high volume of daily inquiries about these SKUs, answering questions ranging from product compatibility to delivery timelines. Most of this is handled through phone calls, PDFs, emails, spreadsheets, and sheer human effort—ultimately leading reps to spend more time digging through documents and updating systems than they do engaging with customers. It’s often inefficient, error-prone, and unsustainable at scale.
While AI has been touted as the solution to these pain points, most horizontal tools fall short of meeting the needs of distribution-intensive industries like construction, healthcare, and insurance. This world isn’t just about customer support tickets or basic chatbots; it’s about navigating complex technical information, managing highly customized workflows, and delivering precise answers in real time.
That’s where InstaLILY comes in.
InstaLILY is an AI-native platform purpose-built for operationally intensive, distribution-heavy verticals. Through their InstaWorkers™ platform, InstaLILY can automate key operational tasks and mirror the precise workflows customers use today. Their initial use cases help sales and support teams work faster, smarter, and with greater context. Sales reps use InstaLILY to surface relevant inventory near the buyer, recall historical customer needs, and uncover upsell opportunities. Support teams rely on it to diagnose product issues, parse technical documentation, and coordinate replacements or returns — all in a fraction of the time.
In our conversations with InstaLILY users and industry operators, one theme was clear: operational drag is one of the biggest barriers to delivering a great customer experience. Since launching in early 2024, InstaLILY has quickly become embedded in the daily workflows of its customers and made teams more productive, responsive, and empowered to do high-leverage work.
We’ve long believed that vertical AI solutions will have an outsized impact in industries with deep complexity and high service expectations. Supplier and distributor operations are perfect examples. The market is massive, the workflows are nuanced, and the cost of inefficiency is high. InstaLILY’s approach of combining advanced AI with deep vertical-specific business logic out-of-the-box is already proving to be a powerful unlock.
It takes a thoughtful and experienced team to bring such an ambitious vision to life, and that’s why InstaLILY’s founders Amit Shah and Sumo Das are positioned to build a generational company. Amit spent 12 years leading the product and marketing efforts of 1-800-FLOWERS, which relies heavily on predictive forecasting to ensure stock is available within each zip code they serve. After rising to the top of the company as President, Amit set out to solve the logistics problems he saw first-hand. Sumo quickly followed after leading international growth for 1-800-FLOWERS and product at Mattress Firm. Their experiences with complex sales and marketing workflows at FLOWERS allowed them to recognize the opportunity AI presented for distribution-heavy industries, and in just two years they have already demonstrated meaningful gains in efficiency and accuracy for multi-billion-dollar businesses.
We’re proud to lead InstaLILY ’s $25M Series A and support Amit, Sumo, and the rest of the team on their mission to transform this essential sector. We believe InstaLILY has the potential to become the intelligent operating layer for suppliers and distributors — one that brings speed, clarity, and scalability to an industry that powers much of the physical world.
