Tacto secures €50m to tackle disruptions and bureaucracy in industrial supply chains
QUICK TAKE
- Tacto is an AI-based supply-chain operating system tailored specifically to the needs of mid-sized industrial companies.
- At a time when supply chains are in turmoil, Tacto boosts efficiency, saves costs and enables future-proofing.
- Tacto is part of a new cohort of tech companies that are creating software for SMEs, a size of company that has long been neglected by software businesses.
- Launched in 2020, Tacto already has an extensive and dedicated customer base across Europe, covering a variety of industrial sectors.
- Today, Tacto has announced €50 million in new funding led by Index and Sequoia to accelerate product development.
INDEX PERSPECTIVE
By Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas and Kathi Wilhelm
Despite playing a critical role in the economy and employing two-thirds of the European workforce, small to medium-sized businesses have long been neglected by software companies. Most products have been geared towards very small operations or very large ones, leaving mid-size firms working with multiple pieces of software, none of which are designed to fit their needs. At worst, they’re left with pen and paper or multiple messy spreadsheets.
As our colleagues Nina and Martin wrote (here and here), things have started to change. Companies from Personio to Alan and Remote to Spendesk have built tailored products that are loved by SMEs. Tacto, which joins the Index family today, is no different. Tackling supply chain management for SMEs, it solves a burning problem these companies face by creating a one-stop solution specifically for them.
Supply chain management has reached a tipping point. The complexity of the thousands of relationships and materials mid-sized industrial companies must manage is staggering. Add to that growing bureaucracy and regulation at every level, along with external macro shocks from inflation to wars, and a perfect storm has formed. Without action, something will inevitably give.
Future-proofing supply chains is on everyone’s mind in normal times – now there is a new level of urgency. Tacto, with its innovative implementation of AI, could not have come sooner for this sector of the economy.
THE DETAILS
Europe’s supply chains are in turmoil. Political instability, war and economic pressures, along with increasingly divergent national regulations are all threatening Europe’s small and mid-sized industrial companies, which largely form the backbone of the continent’s economy.
Effective procurement is key to solving these issues and future-proofing supply chains. However, for Europe’s SMEs, this has proved difficult without the right tools. The average industrial organization already spends 50% of its revenue on procurement, yet many rely on manual workflows and opaque spreadsheets – despite the complexities of managing hundreds of suppliers and tens of thousands of articles crucial for production.
Tacto is providing a solution to this through its central supply chain operating system that manages supplier relations for mid-sized industrial organizations. The AI-based software streamlines all procurement workflows, effortlessly ensuring compliant and sustainable supply chains, along with enabling efficient material sourcing.
Tasks Tacto can automate include those necessary for regulatory compliance with various supply chain acts – and could save up to two additional hires the company estimates organizations might need to comply with upcoming ESG regulations alone. Tacto's AI can also identify cost savings of up to 10% of procurement spending by analyzing price volatility of key outgoings such as raw materials and energy.
“Supply chain disruptions and bureaucracy threaten our European economic backbone – 90 thousand European mid-sized industrial companies,” explains André Petry, Tacto CEO and co-founder. “Tacto addresses these existential threats by offering a technological solution to build future-proof supply chains – digital, efficient, and sustainable.”
Tacto already has mid-sized industrial customers from all sectors which produce and process physical goods of every kind, from board games to tunnel drilling machines. The software manages billions of euros of procured material from hundreds of thousands of suppliers and since its inception in 2020, has not lost a single customer.
“Tacto enables our whole procurement organization from supplier management automation to negotiations for cost savings,” says Tacto customer Matthias Schlotter, Chief Procurement Officer at Schwäbische Werkzeugmaschinen.
“Without Tacto, we would have to hire several more people in times of skilled worker shortage just to manage our supplier base due to all the regulations and disruptions in the supply chain. With Tacto, we have efficiently streamlined all supplier workflows and have access to real-time analysis of all supplier data, leading to significant cost and time savings.”
Today’s €50 million investment led by Index and Sequoia will be used to speed up product development and invest significantly in AI. Going forward, Tacto says it aims to expand its active community by building on its strong customer base and equipping Europe’s industrial ‘Mittelstand’ with technology to meet today’s supply chain challenges while preparing for tomorrow.
Published — Dec. 12, 2023
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