Supplier Network Co scoutbee Gets $60M In Series B Round

Supplier discovery platform scoutbee has raised $60 million in a series B funding round led by Atomico, with Lakestar, Next47, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, 42CAP and Toba Capital all participating, according to a release.

As part of the round, Atomico Partner Hiro Tamura is going to join scoutbee’s board of directors. So far, scoutbee has raised $76 million.

The company has headquarters in Washington D.C. and Berlin, and its technology is being used by companies like Audi, Airbus, Caterpillar and Bosch, among many others.

The company wants to use the money to expand its R&D, seed customer growth and hire 100 new employees.

The platform provides ways for purchasers and suppliers to connect with each other all over the world, and it uses artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data to do so.

“The significant new funding, together with our new partnership with Atomico and Lakestar is an exciting milestone. We will leverage every aspect of our combined instinct, expertise and passion to develop our products and capture new markets. scoutbee as a solution is unrivaled in its specific capability for strategic scouting,” said Gregor Stűhler, co-founder and managing director of scoutbee. “Perhaps most exciting, today our team mission is stronger than ever — and by 2021, we aim to save global companies $10B a year with our intelligent, transparent and fair supplier discovery platform.”

Private sector companies spend trillions every year buying from third-party suppliers, so digital procurement can be a huge windfall. One of the biggest expenses for companies is external sourcing, which can average 43 percent of total costs. scoutbee wants to capitalize on the global procurement software market, which is growing at a CAGR of 9.1 percent and will potentially reach $7.3 billion by the year 2022.

“Using databases and online searches in a vacuum, procurement professionals commonly don’t know what proportion of suppliers they have visibility over, nor the suppliers’ level of quality or experience,” said Tamura, of Atomico. “The industry requires far more effective information gathering. We are proud to partner with scoutbee’s talented and dedicated team who are focusing on exactly this — a smarter way to find suppliers. We were blown away by their deep knowledge in the procurement space in geographies from Asia, Europe and America, and their product-first approach to solving procurement for the world’s top-tier companies.”

Last year, scoutbee Founder and Managing Director Lee Galbraith explained in an interview with PYMNTS why he thought product quality and prices were only the tip of the iceberg when it came to strategic vendor sourcing, and what it meant for corporate security, digital transformations journeys and company bottom lines.

“Supply chains are more volatile today than ever before,” he said. “We’re seeing climate, politics and the disruption of business models pressure purchasers. So, when sourcing vendors, trust is a big factor because the stakes are high.”