Tailor, a ‘headless’ ERP startup, raises $22M Series A

Tailor, a San Francisco- and Tokyo-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform, has raised $22 million in a Series A funding round. Investors include ANRI, JIC Venture Growth Investments (JIC VGI), New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Spiral Capital and Y Combinator.

ERP systems typically come with a single interface that includes all the necessary functions, but this can be inflexible and restrict customization options. In contrast, a “headless” ERP system separates the front end (user interface) from the back end (ERP core), co-founder and CEO of Tailor, Yo Shibata, told TechCrunch. The backend manages key functions of the ERP system, like inventory management and accounting, allowing for independent selection or development of the front end.

This setup lets Tailor’s system, Omakase, allow AI agents to securely access its ERP system via API to automate tasks such as summarizing customer histories or triggering workflows, he added.

The industry has many competitors, including giant legacy companies such as SAP and Oracle, as well as vertical SaaS tools like Crater and Stitch. Shibata believes Tailor’s position as a “headless,” highly customizable option will give it a competitive advantage.

“As coding becomes increasingly commoditized and AI agents handle more of the operational load – already around 50% and growing toward 90% — businesses want systems that can be composed, not hardcoded,” Shibata said. “We believe the future of ERP is modular, programmable, and built for a world where humans and machines collaborate seamlessly.”

Tailor’s product, available in the U.S. and Japan, originally targeted retail and e-commerce customers as these industries face specific challenges arising from dynamic supply chains, market expansion, and uncertain geopolitical factors, co-founder and CEO of Tailor, Yo Shibata, told TechCrunch. Omakase automates workflows and manages businesses’ operations like inventory, fulfillment, finance, purchasing, and omnichannel management.

But the company is now receiving a high volume of inquiries from other sectors like B2B and expanding its services to non-e-commerce or retail companies as well, Shibata said.

“B2B operations are far more complex than B2C businesses, as they involve not only selling inventories but also managing future orders, advanced orders, and more,” Shibata said. “[They] might want to personalize some of their product lineups, which will then add more complexity to the operational side.”

Shibata, a former McKinsey consultant and serial entrepreneur, and Misato Takahashi, CTO of Tailor, founded Tailor in 2021. The startup has grown to approximately 50 employees in Japan, the U.S., and several other countries as of today, up from just 10 in 2022.

As for its long-term plan, the CEO said, “Rather than offering a rigid, all-in-one suite, we provide a modular, API-first platform that companies can assemble and adapt to fit their exact needs, similar to how Shopify supports both prebuilt storefronts and headless commerce. Some customers use it out of the box as a full-stack ERP, while others treat it as a backend and build tools or interfaces on top. Our goal isn’t to force a one-size-fits-all model- it’s to give teams the flexibility to scale and customize ERP around their own workflows and tools.”

The 4-year-old startup plans to allocate the proceeds across three key priorities: U.S. expansion, product development and Japan operations.

“We’re accelerating U.S. expansion by building a dedicated go-to-market team and deepening our presence among mid-sized and enterprise customers,” Shibata told TechCrunch. “Second, we’re investing heavily in product development – particularly in extending our ERP modules and AI capabilities. Third, we’ll continue scaling our Japan operations, where we already have strong market traction, by expanding our delivery and customer success teams to support growth.”