CPO Rising’s Technology Round-Up Series returns today with fresh supply management technology news and updates covering a few recent major announcements. If you are a sourcing, procurement, or spend management solution provider and you are continually innovating the way that procurement and supply chain leaders and practitioners drive value, we’d love to hear from you. Please drop us a note at info at cporising dot com. Thanks, and enjoy!
SpendHQ Adds ESG Features to Drive Strategic Procurement Impact
ATLANTA & LYON, France — SpendHQ, a leading best-in-class provider of spend intelligence and procurement performance management solutions, announced Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) features for customers to rapidly turn spend analytics into new procurement initiatives in support of strategic business objectives.
The company stated that the expanded capabilities also help procurement teams keep pace as regulatory changes bring new compliance requirements, including the EU’s Supply Chain Law and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the German Supply Chain Due Diligence act, and pending oversight proposals at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to Pierre Laprée, chief product officer for SpendHQ, “Procurement can significantly impact ESG progress, but a better approach has been needed to easily identify opportunities to make a bigger impact and to accurately measure procurement’s contribution. As new regulations are introduced, businesses need a clear, holistic view into non-financial performance to identify which procurement levers will help them reduce emissions, diversify their supplier networks and comply with governance changes,” Laprée said.
“Our new capabilities allow businesses to connect ESG spend insights with immediate, collaborative action to prioritize your next initiatives in these areas and ultimately contribute to making the world a better place,” he added.
The next evolution of SpendHQ’s Spend Intelligence and Procurement Performance Management products follows its strategic acquisition of Per Angusta last year. The merger bolsters the company’s purpose-led mission to be the go-to hub for customers needing a proactive management-level solution to optimize their procurement strategy and reporting.
Read the full announcement here.
apexanalytix Acquires ESG Enterprise
GREENSBORO, N.C. & HOUSTON — apexanalytix® (“apex”), a leading provider of global supply chain risk management data, software, and services, announced that it has acquired ESG Enterprise, a provider of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) management data, software, and services.
The company states that ESG Enterprise helps companies meet their ESG and climate objectives through a suite of software solutions that include a front-end data management platform, and artificial intelligence (AI) powered supply chain analytics that combine to offer customers one of the most comprehensive products currently available on the market.
According to Steve Yurko, CEO of apex, “Understanding and effectively managing ESG is a critical part of smart supply chain management, which is why we are excited to add ESG Enterprise to our platform. We look forward to bringing the benefits of this offering to our clients,” he said.
Alan Lee, CEO of ESG Enterprise, added, “Joining apex will enable us to make even more of an impact by helping more companies measure and therefore manage the full spectrum of sustainability risks and opportunities throughout their customers’ large and complex operations and supply chains,” Lee said. “We look forward to continuing to innovate and further build out our technology for their benefit.”
Read the full announcement here.
Pagos Raises 34 Million Series A Investment Funding
LOS ANGELES — Pagos, a payment intelligence company that empowers businesses to optimize their digital payment infrastructure and maximize revenue, lower payments costs, and reduce fraud, announced an oversubscribed $34 million Series A investment led by Arbor Ventures, a global fintech-focused venture firm.
Additional participating investors include Point 72 Ventures, Infinity Ventures, and Underscore VC, which led the company’s $10 million seed round in 2021. This latest round of funding will be used to expand the Pagos engineering team and advance the platform’s enterprise product suite of Parrot, Peacock, Canary, Toucan, and Loon.
The company states that as payment technology becomes increasingly essential, the associated costs and complexities have also surged, leading many businesses to miss out on significant revenue opportunities while also racking up high payment acceptance costs — a particularly worrisome reality given ongoing economic volatility.
According to Klas Bäck, co-founder and CEO of Pagos, “Payment processing is fundamental to customer relationships, revenue, and a business’s bottom line, but most companies don’t have the data, knowledge, or tools to develop and execute on a best-in-class payments performance strategy. Even the small number of companies that do have those resources are leaving money on the table,” Bäck says.
“Our platform helps companies understand and act on the data that already exists within their payments environment, allowing them to better support changing consumer behavior and demands, reduce their operating costs, increase their revenue, and mitigate unnecessary customer friction — all without having to change their current payments infrastructure,” he adds.
Read the full announcement here.
BILL Partners with BMO to Digitize and Streamline Payments
SAN JOSE, Calif. — BILL, a leader in financial automation software for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), announced a partnership with BMO to digitize and streamline business payments. BMO Bill Connect, powered by BILL, is a bill pay and invoicing platform that helps customers pay and get paid in a simpler, faster, and more secure way.
The company states that BMO Bill Connect, the cloud-based platform, gives customers more visibility and control over their financial operations. It offers end-to-end accounts payable and accounts receivable services and is specifically developed to work with industry-leading accounting software, including QuickBooks and Xero. It streamlines the accounts payable process, enables electronic payments, and improves the accounts receivable process by offering invoice and payment tracking capabilities as well as the ability to accept payments.
According to Irana Wasti, chief product officer at BILL, “Small businesses need real-time insight into their finances to save them time and have greater visibility and control over their cash flow,” Wasti said.
“Our digital-first payments and invoicing platform helps businesses improve efficiencies and focus on what matters most. As a company that champions small businesses, we’re thrilled to bring BILL’s capabilities to BMO, so we can support their customers across the U.S., and help their businesses to thrive,” he adds.
Read the full announcement here.
Novata Closes Series B Funding Round With $30 Million Raised
NEW YORK — Novata, an innovative technology platform and public benefit corporation that provides private markets with a cutting-edge Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) solution, announced a Series B funding round with $30 million raised.
The company states that this significant capital raise enables Novata to continue to meet the private markets’ critical need for a simple and secure data management and analytics platform to enable investors to align their capital flows with the metrics that matters to them. Hamilton Lane led the funding round, with participation from existing investors — the Ford Foundation, S&P Global, and Novata’s founders. The company also announced that Microsoft has joined the investor consortium through its Climate Innovation Fund.
In addition, partners and managing directors from a range of private equity firms participated in the Series B, including Canson Capital Partners, Clearlake Capital, Hellman & Friedman, Kohlberg & Company, Lindsay Goldberg and The Vistria Group.
According to Alex Friedman, CEO and co-founder at Novata, “We are grateful to the broad range of leading investors supporting Novata, including financial institutions, large technology companies, non-profit organizations, and private equity firms, which underscores how major facets of global economic activity are coming together to address our most critical common challenges,” Friedman said.
“As sustainability priorities have undisputedly changed over the last decade, Novata is ideally positioned to meet the evolving challenges and to help drive progress on ESG transparency and reliability in the private markets.”
Read the full announcement here.
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