Relay raises $36M to turn frontline radio conversations into queryable operations data

Relay Inc., the Raleigh, North Carolina-based developer of a cloud-hosted smart radio system for frontline workers, said on September 30 that it has raised $36 million in new funding, bringing its total raised to more than $90 million. The round was led by International Paper, the packaging and manufacturing group, with new participation from clients of Cerity Partners, Harmonic Growth Partners and Thayer Investment Partners. Existing backers G2 Venture Partners and Wind River Ventures increased their investments; Relay said the round was significantly oversubscribed.

Turning radio talk into queryable data

The platform is built for people who spend most of their shifts on their feet: factory lines, hotel rooms, hospital wards, warehouses, where speaking over a radio, not typing on a screen, remains the main way work is coordinated. Relay's voice AI layer captures those conversations and converts them into structured, queryable data that feeds operational workflows. The company says the system handles domain-specific jargon, so a radio report that a palletizer has broken down three times in a week becomes a maintenance ticket instead of a misunderstanding. A TeamTranslate feature adds real-time voice translation in more than 30 languages.

"Signal evaporation"

CEO and co-founder Chris Chuang describes the underlying problem as "signal evaporation": frontline workers are too busy to enter what they observe into a computer, so much of the most valuable operational knowledge disappears as soon as it is spoken. Relay research covering 500 manufacturing professionals found that 57% say their most important operational communication happens out loud, in person, while only 17% say almost everything workers notice and flag ends up in a system, log or formal report. 79% said communication breakdowns cause delays, rework or missed handoffs at least a few times a month.

What the funding is for

International Paper led the round as both customer and investor. Keith Townsend, its group vice president for Packaging Solutions North America, said the system performs reliably in loud, challenging industrial settings and connects frontline insights into operational systems. Relay says it serves hundreds of thousands of frontline workers and that nearly 10% of the Fortune 500 are customers. The new capital will fund its AI and agentic capabilities, which let teams query their shift data and act on it, as well as worker safety products, integrations with enterprise systems, next-generation hardware and expansion across industrial and hospitality markets.

Sources: SiliconANGLE · PR Newswire