 | |
| Company type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer software, reverse logistics |
| Founded | 2004; 21 years ago (2004) (as eSpot) |
| Founders | Tobin Moore Adam Vitarello |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Key people | Amena Ali, CEO; Adam Vitarello, Chief Strategy Officer |
| Website | http://optoro.com/ |
Optoro is areverse logisticstechnology company that works withretailers,manufacturers, and third-party logistics (3PL) companies to manage returned and excessmerchandise.[1] These products, which range fromconsumer electronics to home goods to clothing, are automatically listed on online marketplaces, includingAmazon,eBay,Buy.com andBest Buy.[2] Optoro also liquidates goods in bulk through its other proprietary website.[3]
Optoro was founded as eSpot Deals in 2004 by Tobin "Toby" Moore[4][5][6] while he was a student atBrown University.[7] The business was initially run out of an attic above the garage at Moore's house before opening a 1,200-square-foot storefront in Georgetown.[8] Moore and co-founder Adam Vitarello, now Optoro's president, opened one of the first eBay drop off stores inWashington, DC.[9] In 2008, the pair opened an office and warehouse inLanham, Maryland, where they processed goods from retailers.[7] In 2010, eSpot Deals pivoted away from processing returns directly and incorporated as Optoro, Inc. Tobin and Adam were joined by CTO Jessica Szmajda,[10] and built a new plan to deliver technology solutions to retailers to handle their returned and excess goods. In September 2013, Optoro moved its corporateheadquarters to a 13,000-square-foot office in downtownChinatown, D.C.[11] In June 2016, Optoro moved again to an office space located in theMetro Center neighborhood of Washington, D.C., with double the square footage, holding around 160 people.[12] In February 2021, Optoro shut down its direct-to-consumer eCommerce website, blinq.com. In July 2025, Optoro shut down bulq.com. In August 2025,Optoro was acquired byBlue Yonder, the AI company for supply chain.
Optoro's main product is asoftware-as-a-service called OptiTurn, which is used in retailers' warehouses to sort, process, and resell clients' returned and excessinventory.[13] The software tracks and dispositions inventory as it flows through a warehouse until it reaches consumers.[14] Using OptiTurn, workers mark the conditions of returned products as new, open box,refurbished, or used in good condition.[15] OptiTurn analyzes this, along with other product information, to divert items to the channel that will get retailers the most money back.[16] Possible dispositions include selling directly to consumers, reselling to wholesalers, returning to vendors for repair, donating, or recycling.[7]
OptiTurn lists products with a high resale value automatically on multiple online marketplaces under the BLINQ brand. The software will disposition other goods that will net a higher recovery when sold in bulk to be resold under the BULQ brand onBULQ.com.[3]
In March 2015, Optoro started a dedicated sustainability team to measure the transportation and waste impacts of the returns industry and the effects that Optoro's solution has on retailers'carbon footprints.[17]
In July 2013, Optoro received $23.5 million inSeries B funding from three primaryinvestors:Revolution LLC, headed by former AOL executivesSteve Case,Ted Leonsis, and Donn Davis; Grotech Ventures; and SWaN & Legend Venture Partners, which was co-founded byFredrick D. Schaufeld.[2][18] Optoro was Revolution Growth's fifth investment in its "speed-ups" investment fund, which was created to support the growth of newly formed companies and to widen the audience for their products.[18]
In December 2014, Optoro closed $50 million in funding in aSeries C round led byKleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a Silicon Valleyventure capital firm, as well asGeneration Investment Management, a VC company founded byAl Gore.[19] The financing from KPCB came from its Green Growth Fund.[20]
In July 2015, Optoro received $40 million in debt financing from TriplePoint Venture Growth and Square 1 Bank to support scaling its software and its consumer base.[21]
In December 2016, Optoro raised $30 million in Series D funding from UPS, Revolution Growth, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Generation Investment Management, Tenfore Holdings, SWaN and Legend Venture Partners and the Maryland Venture Fund.[22]