Ikea buys US

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Furniture retailer Ikea said an affiliate has acquired supply chain software provider Made4net. The deal is expected to improve the company's end-to-end fulfillment network.

The investment arm of Ingka Group, which is Ikea's largest store owner and operator, made the acquisition on Wednesday.

Based in Teaneck, New Jersey, Made4net is a cloud-based supply chain and warehouse management software provider. Ingka Group plans to roll out Made4net's fulfillment software across its omnichannel operations.

Ingka Group owns and operates 482 Ikea stores across 31 countries.

Financial terms of the transaction were not provided but Ikea said the rollout likely marks "the largest implementation of a warehouse management solution in the world." The scalable software offering will improve delivery times and fulfillment accuracy, the company said.

Made4net will continue to operate independently with current leadership remaining in place. It will also serve new and existing customers not affiliated with Ikea.

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"Our business currently requires a better fulfillment operations system with more accurate data that better supports order handling for our customers," said Tolga Oncu, Ingka Group's head of retail. "Our goal is to become leaders of life at home, serving more people in an omnichannel reality, whenever and however customers choose to meet us."

The deal follows Ikea's recent announcement that it would invest more than $2 billion in its U.S. omnichannel growth strategy.

The transaction marks an exit for private equity firm Thompson Street Capital Partners, which made a growth investment in the outfit in early 2021.

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