Craft pursues supply chain visibility with $32M boost

Craft, a supply chain-focused enterprise data platform, raised a $32 million Series B to improve companies visibility into their supplier network, the company tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: More money is expected to be poured into supply chain tech this year, especially in visibility, traceability, and areas that allow for greater control and adaptability.

Details: The round was led by BAM Elevate, the venture capital arm of Balyasny Asset Management.

• Greycroft, Uncork Capital, High Alpha and ServiceNow Ventures participated.
• The company declined to give an exact valuation, but CEO Ilya Levtov says the share price from its Series A valuation increased 3x and from its post-money Series A to its post-money Series B, its valuation increased 5x.

How it works: The San Francisco-based company aims to map and track every supplier in the supply chain, and provide reliable information on risks associated with cybersecurity, ESG, legal compliance and geopolitics.

• The company has millions of supplier profiles, and that data can go down to the product SKU level, Levtov says.
• Retailers in particular tend to use the tool to figure out which alternative suppliers to use if risk or issue arises in one area of their supply chain, Levtov says.
• The company has about 60 customers, and it plans to grow that figure to 100 to 120 by the year's end.

What they're saying: Craft says its platform lets customers tune into the specific dynamics around their global supply chain and its accompanying risks, he says.

• “I think most of our customers are being inundated with too much data,” says Dan Huber, vice president of global sales.

• “There may be an outage in a particular plant, but if you're not getting items from that particular plant, but they are a supplier to you, is that important or not?” Huber says.

What’s next: Fresh funds will go toward R&D in data engineering and data science, as well as building further capacity to support large enterprises, Levtov says.

• The company is growing its sales force and could expand into verticals like the public sector.
• “As we continue to grow and expand the business, we'll grow with a more vertical approach,” Huber says.

The bottom line: Data visibility and advanced data analytics can apply beyond the supply chain: to financial risk management, competitive intelligence and M&A scouting, Levtov says.