Fluent Commerce Raises A$46M from Bain Capital — Building AI-Powered OMS Infrastructure for the Agentic Era

Bain Capital Invests A$46M to Accelerate OMS Growth

On February 17, 2026, Sydney-based order management system (OMS) company Fluent Commerce announced it had secured A$46 million in funding from Bain Capital, one of the world's leading private capital investment firms.

The funds will be allocated to strengthening AI-related investments, accelerating new customer acquisition, expanding the rollout of the AI integration platform "Fluent Connect," and entering key international markets. Bain Capital manages approximately $215 billion in assets, and its participation signals strong confidence in the company's trajectory.

Industry Landscape

Fluent Commerce is a cloud-native OMS company founded in 2015. In 2019, it raised $33 million in Series B funding from US growth equity firm Arrowroot Capital, making this latest round its first major funding in approximately seven years.

The company's clients include global luxury, sports, and retail brands such as Prada Group, L'Oreal, LVMH, JD Sports, Kingfisher, and ALDO Group. It was named a "Leader" in the Forrester Wave: Order Management Systems, Q1 2025, establishing a strong position in the distributed order management (DOM) space.

The distributed order management market is poised for significant growth. According to research firms, the DOM market is expected to reach approximately $1.5 billion in 2026 and expand to $3.8 billion by 2033 (CAGR of approximately 10.8%). Growth is being driven by the adoption of omnichannel retail and the increasing need for real-time inventory visibility and intelligent order orchestration.

Full Picture of the AI Strategy

What makes this funding particularly noteworthy is that Fluent Commerce is positioning itself not merely as an OMS vendor, but as an "agentic commerce infrastructure company." CEO Graham Jackson stated that the company aims to "provide the decision engine for AI-enabled commerce operations."

Over the past several months, the company has released three significant AI-related products in rapid succession.

MCP Server (November 2025): The Fluent Order Management MCP Server is middleware that securely connects AI agents to backend retail systems. It initially supports WISMO (Where is My Order?) inquiries, enabling AI agents to retrieve and respond with real-time order status. The company plans to expand coverage to delivery address changes, order modifications, and return processing.

AI Order Sourcing Logic (January 2026): The company launched AI-powered fulfillment optimization with A/B testing capabilities. This shifts fulfillment location selection from hypothesis-based decisions to data-driven decision-making.

Fluent Connect (January 2026): An AI-powered integration platform that reduces the time to connect with third-party systems such as payment gateways, shipping carriers, and POS systems from "weeks" to "hours." It addresses the challenge of integration work accounting for 50% of OMS implementation projects, significantly reducing TCO (total cost of ownership).

These three products complement each other to form an end-to-end agentic commerce infrastructure where "AI agents process orders, select optimal fulfillment locations, and automatically integrate with external systems."

Impact and Implications for E-Commerce Businesses

Bain Capital Partner Paul Kennedy commented that "Fluent Commerce has built a best-in-class order management platform and earned the trust of global brands." For e-commerce businesses, this development carries three important implications.

The trend of AI agents intervening in the purchasing process is accelerating, from ChatGPT's shopping features to Mastercard's Agent Pay. Whether a backend OMS can integrate with AI agents is becoming a decisive factor in the quality of customer experience.

The emergence of platforms like Fluent Connect has the potential to significantly lower OMS implementation and integration costs. OMS modernization, which previously required "large-scale implementation projects," can now be executed with greater agility.

AI-driven order sourcing optimizes inventory placement and fulfillment location selection through data-driven approaches. For businesses shipping from multiple locations, this enables both cost reduction and faster delivery speeds.

Conclusion

Fluent Commerce's major funding round is a landmark event signaling that AI is beginning to deeply penetrate the "behind-the-scenes" infrastructure layer of OMS. The rapid succession of AI products -- MCP Server, AI sourcing with A/B testing, and the integration platform -- all released within just a few months, demonstrates that the company has a clear vision for what "OMS in the agentic era" should look like.

Going forward, the key points to watch are the pace of Fluent Commerce's international expansion and which regions and customer segments Bain Capital's backing will help accelerate. While the company has not disclosed its valuation, given the strong investor interest in AI-enabled OMS, competition in this space is expected to intensify. For e-commerce businesses, this is an opportune moment to reassess whether their OMS infrastructure is ready for the age of AI agents.