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Whitespace

AI Operating System for Wholesale Distributors

Whitespace is the AI operating system for wholesale distributors. It connects to their systems and inboxes to build a living model of their business, then deploys self-improving AI agents to automate work like inventory planning, customer support, and order entry.
Active Founders
Alex Tung
Alex Tung
Founder
Founder at Whitespace. First non-engineer hire at Ankar (Index-backed); scaled the startup to 7-figure ARR within a year. Consultant at BCG; won firm award for performance given to ~100 employees globally. Economics at Cambridge; awarded academic scholarships in all years.
Leon Yao
Leon Yao
Founder
Founder at Whitespace. Previously Research Engineer at Instadeep, designing RL solutions for NP-hard optimization problems. First-author paper at top-3 robotics conference on autonomous navigation. Former CTO at Test and Tutor (1000+ users, 3 school partnerships). MSc in Machine Learning and BEng in Mechanical Engineering from UCL.
Company Launches
Whitespace: AI Operating System for Wholesale Distributors
See original launch post

Hey everyone 👋 We’re Alex and Leon - cofounders of Whitespace.

Whitespace is the AI operating system for wholesale distributors. It connects to their systems to build a living model of their business, then deploys self-improving AI agents to do work like inventory planning, customer service, and order processing.

Problem

Wholesale distribution is a $60 trillion global industry that touches one in every five dollars of global output. Yet it still runs largely manually. At a typical wholesale distributor, 30-50% of staff are dedicated to back-office tasks.

They spend their days on email, spreadsheets, and legacy systems, relying on tribal knowledge in their heads. Businesses cannot scale without hiring, and training a new hire takes >6 months.

A quote from one of our customers really brings this to life: “I have 6 reps typing 600 lines of orders from email into the ERP every day. Everyone is inside our ERP and spreadsheets, copying data from one place to another.”

Solution

Whitespace is the AI operating system for wholesale distributors. It connects to their systems to build a living model of their business, then deploys self-improving AI agents. 

We’re already working with wholesale distributors in sectors including industrial supplies and building materials to set up agents for processes like:

  • Inventory Planning. Forecasts product demand, recommends reorder quantities against stock levels, and learns over time from actual demand.
  • Customer Service. Monitors inboxes for support queries, digs through systems to find answers, and responds with human oversight.
  • Order Processing. Monitors inboxes, enters orders into the ERP, flags exceptions to humans, and learns from their corrections.

https://youtu.be/4UxlKKXrgfI?si=EwGhX1LCTGyauuw6

Team

Both our families ran wholesale distribution businesses, so we grew up seeing the inefficiencies and the opportunities firsthand.

Alex advised F500 manufacturers and distributors on tech/AI at BCG, took a startup from launch to 7-figure ARR in a year as its first non-engineering hire, and graduated top of his college at Cambridge.

Leon built AI products for F500 logistics distribution companies at InstaDeep, published first-author RL papers at tier-1 conferences, and previously founded an EdTech startup that served thousands of users worldwide.

We’ve been best friends for 12 years since high school. We’ve lived and worked together, and are now tackling a challenge close to our hearts.

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Ask

We would appreciate intros to wholesalers or distributors at alex@whitespacehq.ai

Whitespace
Founded:2026
Batch:Summer 2026
Team Size:2
Status:
Active
Location:London, United Kingdom
Primary Partner:Jon Xu