Exclusive: Atmospheric AI raises $10M to track materials supply chain
Illustration: Axios Visuals
Atmospheric AI, a startup modeling raw material supply chains, has raised $10.1 million in seed funding to expand its product into new sectors, co-founder and CEO Roee Goldberg says.
Why it matters: Industrial supply chains remain notoriously opaque, making it difficult for companies to track costs, sourcing risks and emissions.
Zoom in: DBL Partners, an early investor in Tesla and SpaceX, led the round, joined by Raise, Broadscale, Working Capital Fund, Tiny.vc, Norrsken Evolve and Anamcara.
- DBL Partners' Vinnie Caruso, who joined Atmospheric AI's board, says the firm had been searching for startups tackling supply chain visibility.
- "These supply chains are complex and almost opaque by design," Goldberg says. Companies along the value chain have little incentive to disclose their suppliers, he adds.
- London-based Atmospheric AI is already working with some of the world's largest consumer packaged goods companies and has developed models of the petrochemical supply chain, says Goldberg, who previously co-founded community engagement company OpenWeb.
How it works: Atmospheric AI is modeling more than 50,000 industrial facilities worldwide, incorporating their technologies, efficiencies and energy mixes, while tracking material flows across global shipping routes.
- Customers use the models to reduce costs, secure access to materials and manage greenhouse gas emissions.
- The ultimate goal is to create digital twins of customers' supply chains covering their entire bills of materials, Goldberg says.
The big picture: AI is enabling greater visibility into complex, data-heavy supply chains as geopolitical volatility makes sourcing raw materials increasingly difficult.
Case in point: Disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz have sent industrial companies scrambling for alternative petrochemical inputs.
Fun fact: Goldberg says binge-watching Life on Our Planet during the COVID-19 pandemic opened his eyes to the severity and urgency of climate change, and the coordinated effort needed to address it.
