Manulife’s Investment in New Procurement Technology
Brought to you by WBR Insights
Digital technology is helping industries all over the globe work in more streamlined, efficient, and effective ways. Intelligent brands know that helping to drive this new technology forwards is the responsibility of all and that they sometimes need to put their money where their mouth is and invest in the startups bringing it into being.
This is the situation multinational insurance and financial service provider Manulife found itself in. When Information Venture Partners took the responsibility for leading the series B funding for a brand-new digital procurement platform, Manulife was keen to get involved, knowing it could make good use of such a platform.
At the close of funding, Procurify had received $20 million, bringing its funding total almost $30 million.
Procurify
Vancouver based startup, Procurify has a good pedigree of people at the helm with a Vice President of product and Senior Vice President of Engineering formerly of Clio and Hootsuite respectively. The fresh company has a mission to transform the way procurement is facilitated in the digital age.
"The way organizations are managing their spend has evolved and changed throughout the years, and the landscape of business tools need to keep up with that evolution," said Procurify Cofounder and CEO, Aman Mann. "We are so grateful to embrace the next stage of Procurify, and to have some of the top investors and leaders in US and Canada believe and support our mission of reinventing the way organizations spend, to transform the Spend Cultures of businesses around the world for the better."
The Procurify platform is - as you would expect from a modern digital service - entirely cloud hosted, meaning it can be accessed by procurement professionals from anywhere in the world and from any connected device. The SaaS product is hosted by Amazon Web Services, so customers can be confident that it's being supported by the very best infrastructure and latest internet technology.
With the Procurify platform, brands can manage their purchasing, procurement, and all associated tasks digitally. Digital purchase order submission and accounts payable automation are just two of the features which can help brands manage procurement better than ever.
Customers can set up custom users by individual, department, or location for maximum freedom and flexibility and can deliver real-time notifications and budget forecasting - making sure people are informed with the most up to date information available. Procurify can also seamlessly integrate with a range of accounting platforms - such as QuickBooks - and provide end-to-end visibility into purchase history through its tracking and reporting tools.
"Procurify offers a structured way to gain and track approvals for spending," said Procurify. "We organize all your purchasing and spend documents and enhance the information that's already in your accounting system. Upgrade the processes that are letting things slip. Streamline core purchasing processes, and confidently pay for the right thing with 3-way matching."
Digital Procurement
Procurify contains an abundance of tools and will almost certainly prove to be a game changer for the procurement business. As mentioned before, it's entirely cloud-based and can be accessed from either your favorite web browser or a proprietary mobile app - meaning procurement managers need never feel out of the loop.
Managers can address item requests for purchasing and receiving and automate the process of matching invoices to payments. Graph tools can plot committed spending against actual spend and credit card purchases can be controlled effectively making for simpler and more consistent expense claim requests. Approval thresholds can be set on a per-person or per-project basis.
To make the whole supply chain more transparent and therefore more accountable, Procurify can also track the performance of vendors. Managers can quickly and easily see if items were received on time and in an acceptable condition. This empowers them to address concerns when they arise and switch vendors if a situation becomes untenable.
"There is this massive void within the mid-market for easy-to-use solutions that serve growing organizations when it comes to tracking company spending and purchasing," said Information Venture Partners General Partner and Cofounder, Robert Antoniades. "Procurify has an immense market opportunity to create a new category around Spend Culture for small to mid-size companies."
Final Thoughts
Procurify is an innovative and affordable platform that is set to change the way purchasing and ordering are carried out in the future. Thanks to forward-thinking companies such as Manulife seeing the value in such a platform and putting money and resources forwards to help it succeed, Procurify is only likely to grow and become even more of a powerful force in the world of procurement in the future.