Relay raises $36 million to expand frontline operations platform

Relay, a business communications startup, has raised $36 million in a new funding round, bringing its total capital raised to over $90 million. The oversubscribed round was led by International Paper and included participation from Cerity Partners, Harmonic Growth Partners, Thayer Investment Partners, G2 Venture Partners, and Wind River Ventures.

The company provides a cloud-hosted smart radio communications system designed for frontline workers in sectors such as industrial manufacturing and hospitality. Relay’s platform integrates cloud communications, AI, real-time translation, and automated workflows with specialized hardware to capture operational intelligence that is often lost in traditional radio communications, a phenomenon CEO Chris Chuang refers to as ‘signal evaporation.’

Relay currently serves approximately 10% of the Fortune 500 and operates across nearly 10,000 sites. The new capital is intended to accelerate the development of its AI software platform, agentic capabilities, worker safety tools, and next-generation hardware.