(Credit: Pexels)Supply chain software company Sourcemap has received $10 million of funding to help expand its platform aimed at helping businesses track everything from raw material sourcing to carbon emissions throughout their operations.
The platform helps companies map different objectives throughout their supply chains. The Series A funding is being led by Energize Ventures with participation from E14 Fund and will help Sourcemap grow its North American operations and expand with a European subsidiary.
The growth comes as the demand for supply chain traceability and risk management increases and the technology to improve that efficiency becomes more available.
Supply chain technology companies raised more than $24.3 billion in funding through the first three quarters of 2021, according to PitchBook. AI-software provider o9, which helps predict supply chain risks, recently received a $295 million investment in its platform as another example of the growth.
Research and Markets estimates the supply chain risk management software market will reach $1.95 billion by 2027.
Sourcemap says it has more than 400,000 businesses registered on its platform, across industries such as food and agriculture, apparel and automotive. The company says it has helped businesses with responsible sourcing on more than $60 billion of procurement.
The platform helps with supply chain risk, traceability, and resilience planning with up-to-date data and information. Sourcemap says the information helps companies meet environmental, social and governance targets (ESG).
Such tools can be a key to making improvements, as a report by SCALA at the end of 2021 found that nearly a third of UK businesses took no steps on supply chain sustainability. High energy costs and ESG concerns were the biggest factors in a stressed supply chain, according to IHS Markit.
A platform by Avetta is another example of technology to help manage those risks and make sustainability improvements. It has an ESG scoring system that considers company goals and global standards across 20 industries.
Traceability systems that track the history, location and application of products throughout supply chains have also become so important that Planet Tracker says investors should demand their companies have them. Those systems can provide accountability that businesses are meeting net zero goals and adhering to government regulations.
“Data is a tool for meaningful change, and companies need auditable data to effectively mitigate risk,” says Calvin Chin, managing partner at E14 Fund.
