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!
Beeline and TalentNet Celebrate as More Contingent Workforce Leaders Embrace Direct Sourcing
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Beeline, a solution provider focused on managing the extended workforce, reports a growing strategic shift toward direct sourcing. Beeline and TalentNet continue to attract Fortune 500 companies to their solution, enhancing clients’ contingent workforce strategy. Three of the new Fortune 500 clients include a San Francisco-based financial services company, a leading U.S. aerospace firm, and America’s number one consumer electronics retailer.
According to Colleen Tiner, SVP of Product Strategy at Beeline, “Most companies are facing the most serious talent shortage they have experienced in their history,” she said. “Today, with contingent talent comprising nearly half of the workforce, and demand for talent increasingly outpacing supply, direct sourcing has become one of the most effective and essential contingent talent acquisition strategies.”
The company states that direct sourcing enables companies to hire contingent workers from their own private talent pools rather than from third parties and saves significant time and costs.
Johnathan Prothero, Co-Founder of TalentNet, added, “The focus of our partnership has always been to innovate and drive significant value into and across direct source programs, enabling clients to build a curated talent community through their own employer brand,” he said.
“With thousands of transactions a day shared between our platforms, clients can build their private talent communities without the added burden of introducing additional technology.”
Read the full announcement here.
Sovos Acquires TOC Biometrics
BOSTON — Sovos, a global tax software provider, announced it has acquired Santiago, Chile-based TOC Biometrics, a provider of identity verification and electronic signature solutions throughout South and Latin America.
The company states that TOC Biometrics designs flexible solutions that are adaptable to customers’ needs and help to speed up a company’s digitalization process. This acquisition will enhance Sovos’ solutions portfolio so that customers can ensure compliance with a growing range of legal and fiscal requirements for robust user identities in rapidly digitizing economies globally.
According to Alvaro Gonzalez, managing director, Latin America for Sovos, “Most companies are looking to stay ahead of digitalization trends and the minimum required by governments to create a higher standard of compliance and legal certainty for their organization,” he said.
“The TOC Biometrics acquisition builds upon the impressive portfolio of solutions Sovos already has in place, allowing our customers to transact anywhere in the world knowing they will be compliant and dealing with an authorized user.”
Read the full announcement here.
Briq Announces Acquisition of Swipez
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Briq, a financial automation platform that enables construction companies to grow their business, announced the acquisition of Swipez, an India-based fintech company that automates the billing and revenue collection processes for businesses.
The company states that with the acquisition of Swipez, Briq will further its ability to fully automate all the major financial workflows in construction – from planning to payment, and now to being paid.
According to Bassem Hamdy, cofounder and CEO of Briq, “An ongoing challenge is the lack of certainty around cash flow in the construction industry, and we attribute that to a broken payment process,” he said. “Bringing automation to the billing and accounts receivable functions will drastically improve the ability for construction companies to accurately project cash flow.”
Read the full announcement here.
Fairmarkit Secures $35.6 Million Series C Funding
BOSTON — Fairmarkit, an enterprise automated sourcing platform for the procurement of goods and services, announced a $35.6 million Series C investment, bringing its total funding to date to $78 million. The round was led by OMERS Growth Equity with participation from investors GGV Capital, Insight Partners, HighlandX, as well as a new strategic investment from ServiceNow.
The company states that the new capital will further fuel Fairmarkit’s rapid growth through strategic hiring, increased technology partnerships, and product development. The company is optimizing the platform for all sourcing events and plans to add the same level of intelligence to payments, bringing customers closer to full autonomous sourcing.
According to Kevin Frechette, co-founder and CEO of Fairmarkit, “Our system was built specifically to focus on the high-volume purchases that can require long purchase cycles and largely go unmanaged and ignored by enterprise procurement teams, who have traditionally relied on enterprise technology that is clunky and manual,” he said.
“We realize that the current economic climate has put a strain on our customers to do more with less, as every line item is being scrutinized for cost saving and every opportunity to drive operational efficiencies is being pursued. This investment will help accelerate the impact our platform will have on our customers’ bottom lines.”
Read the full announcement here.
