Red River Insights - The Supply Chain Tech top10
How AI and automation are revolutionizing supply chain operations
Red River Insights - September 2024
Dear Friends,
We hope you had a fantastic summer! As we dive back into business, this month's Top 10 highlights an exciting and timely topic: supply chain management. With the Biden administration set to implement new tariff hikes on products from China later this month, the complexities of global supply chains are more relevant than ever.
Supply chain management is undergoing a massive digital transformation, with the global supply chain management market projected to reach $31 billion by 2026, showing the immense potential in this space (source). AI and automation are revolutionizing operations, with 83% of businesses now prioritizing customer experience enhancement in their digital strategies. Interestingly, only 6% of companies have achieved full supply chain visibility, creating huge opportunities for innovative solutions (source)! This aligns with the growing need for traceability and compliance, driven not only by regulatory bodies but more importantly by end consumers. A survey by IBM found that 71% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for brands that provide full transparency and traceability.
As we delve into the key trends shaping the future of supply chain management, it's clear that digital transformation is no longer a luxury but a necessity for survival and growth in the modern business landscape. Companies that successfully navigate this digital revolution will be well-positioned to create more agile, efficient, and customer-centric supply chains, ultimately driving business value and competitive advantage.
Scroll down for our top10 of groundbreaking innovative Supply Chain Tech startups (reminder: this is an algorithmic scoring, not a random human judgment!)
RAMP's Supply Chain Tech Top10
We hope this sparks interesting conversations. If you have any comments or would like to suggest a startup that should be included, feel free to reach out to us. Abel, Chloé, Joseph and Olivier will be delighted to discuss these trends and rankings.
(Ranking established on 11/09/2024)
This ranking illustrates the dynamic and vibrant nature of the Supply Chain Tech ecosystem.
We've highlighted 5 key trends illustrated by these companies:
AI-powered analytics and optimization
AI is transforming supply chain analytics by automating processes, identifying patterns, and providing real-time insights. It enables businesses to predict demand, optimize logistics, and enhance supply chain visibility. According to McKinsey, companies using AI in supply chain planning have seen improvements in logistics costs by 15%, inventory levels by 35%, and service levels by 65%. AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data to forecast demand accurately, optimize inventory levels, and improve route planning. For instance, Tacto uses AI to identify cost-saving opportunities by analyzing price fluctuations in key cost drivers and comparing them to actual procurement spend. Another example is Prewave employing machine learning techniques to analyze social media data and predicting supply chain risks and anomalies.
Supplier sustainability and compliance
As we're mentioning supply chain risks, ensuring supplier compliance and managing risks are critical aspects of modern supply chains. More and more platforms are monitoring suppliers for sustainability and compliance to help businesses meet regulatory requirements and reduce risks, such as IntegrityNext, enabling companies to monitor 100% of their suppliers for sustainability and compliance to meet regulatory requirements. Their platform automatically obtains required supplier self-assessments and certificates, converting compliance data requirements from international regulators into actionable processes and systems. In a more verticalized way, Qualifyze is supporting pharma companies with supply chain compliance assessments, capturing and converting proprietary raw audit data to generate insights into supplier compliance levels.
Automation and streamlining of procurement processes
Automation in procurement and supplier management is crucial to replace outdated manual processes like emails and spreadsheets. This enhances efficiency and transparency in supplier selection and management. Imperia for instance automates demand planning, production, and purchasing for SMEs, reducing manual input and optimizing workflows while Alpas focuses on automating the search, comparison, and selection of suppliers, speeding up the procurement process.
Omnichannel and unified supply chain management
Retailers and distributors are increasingly looking for omnichannel solutions that unify various sources of supply and distribution. This trend is key in the retail and pharmaceutical industries where efficiency and flexibility are crucial, with companies such as PipelinePharma, a marketplace that connects pharmaceutical manufacturers with distributors, helping streamline the process of licensing and supply agreements. In the retail sector, OneStock is providing an OMS solution for omnichannel scenarios, offering numerous configurable options to connect all supply sources with customer demand.
Industry-specific solutions
Tailored solutions for specific industries address unique challenges in sectors like pharmaceuticals, food production, and retail. For example, AI-driven platforms help pharmaceutical companies manage compliance assessments, while food producers use AI for better distribution channel management. We've already mentioned the examples of Qualifyze and PipelinePharma in the pharma industry, OneStock in the retail industry, now let's have a look at the food industry. Aiperia is offering an AI-based planning platform for food producers and suppliers, enabling better management of assortments from production to point of sale and Inpulse is automating supply management platform specifically for restaurateurs.
More on RAMP's scoring method
The ranking of these startups is based on the estimated momentum of the company but the algorithm does not assess the quality or reliability of the products/solutions developed by these companies!
Find out about the algorithm behind this ranking and the way scores are calculated here: Cheat sheet on RAMP
In case you missed them, our latest top 10s are here:
- July 24
- June 24
- May 24
- April 24
- March 24
- February 24
All the previous Top 10 are here.
Congrats to our Leading European Tech Scaleups!
France Digital published its annual "Leading European Tech Scaleups" list and we're thrilled to see 3 of our portfolio companies, Brut., Le Collectionist and WeMaintain in this prestigious list of European flagship companies for 'made in Europe' innovation. This achievement showcases not only the hard work and dedication of their teams but also their commitment to becoming global leaders in their respective industries. We couldn't be more proud!
Our portfolio companies at the Olympics!
Throughout the whole Olympic and Paralympic Games period in Paris, WeMaintain's technology and teams have done a wonderful job at ensuring the maintenance of elevators and escalators in train stations and airports across the Île-de-France region.
Brut. was the first media on Olympics coverage on TikTok in France, with a total of 161m views between July 22nd and August 11th!
Portfolio news
At GreenTech in Amsterdam, Robovision pre-launched the tomato harvester, the newest addition to Robovision's and ISO's joint portfolio of AI-powered horticulture robotics.
Le Collectionist's villas were featured in Condé Nast Traveller Magazine, Design Ontology and Elle France.
Brut. has won the Grand Prix des Médias 2024, competing against TF1, Netflix, and others! 🏆 During the Grand Prix des Médias event, Brut Afrique was also honored in the Strategic Movement category for a media outlet. Finally, Brut. received the award for Best Special Operation for its coverage of the Cannes Film Festival, achieving a historic audience for the 2024 edition. Congratulations to the entire editorial team!
Ada has been named a quarterfinalist for Best in Class: Digital Health in the 2024 Digital Health Hub Foundation Awards!
Dave Pope, Worldia's UK Business Development Manager, reflects on the launch of Worldia in the UK this year and the upcoming steps for Worldia in the UK market in an exclusive interview.
Resilience has announced its partnership with Elsan, highlighting the trust built between the two institutions since their collaboration began in 2022 at the Centre de Cancérologie Les Dentellières.
Resilience launched the RC-102 study, a large-scale, multicenter trial aimed at evaluating the impact of telemonitoring with Resilience PRO on cancer patients' quality of life, compared to standard care, involving 1,458 patients across 45 health centers.
Team news
Abel and Joseph will be at Bits & Pretzels in Munich at the end of the month, don't hesitate to reach out if you'll be there as well!
As it’s now a tradition, the whole team gathered for a “back to school" offsite in Normandy for intensive working sessions focused on our fund's vision and strategy, the progress of our portfolio companies and many exciting news to come! We were actually very busy in August and signed a new investment, we’ll tell you more about it next month :)
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