Prewave, an Austrian startup that uses AI to help companies monitor supply chain risks, has raised $67 million in Series B funding.
Founded in 2017, Prewave helps corporate clients identify, monitor and address a wide range of supply chain risks. The startup works in ESG and compliance, resilience and logistics, helping companies get a better grasp on supply chain regulations.
Supply chain transparency has become increasingly important in the wake of European regulations on human rights, environmental protection, and labor issues, Prewave co-founder Harald Nissinger told Business Insider. In recent years, rising geopolitical instability, labor shortages, and inflationary pressures have increased supply chain risks. Prewave estimates that disruptions to the supply chain cost companies 6-10% of their annual revenue.
“Our work is data- and AI-driven,” Prewave co-founder Lisa Smith told BI. “Modern supply chains are so complex that our platform allows companies to monitor local news sources, government data, as well as corruption and sanctions indicators to find the needle in the haystack across 140 different types of risk events.”
Prewave raised funds for its Series A+ round in May 2023 and will begin the process with investors in early 2024.
“The time is now and having grown threefold last year, it made sense for us to invest in growth,” Smith added. “We saw that there was demand on the investment side and it was a very competitive round, so we decided to go out and do it again.”
The Series B funding round was led by Hedosophia, with participation from existing investors including Creandum, Ventech, Kompas, Speedinvest and Working Capital Fund.
While the EU has introduced a number of supply chain regulations, the US is unsurprisingly a major market for this sector. With the new funding, Prewave plans to expand its presence in Europe and expand into the US. The additional funding will also be used to increase spending on AI research and development.
The company has about 80 employees and plans to double its workforce over the next two years, Smith added.
Check out Prewave’s Series B pitch deck below.
