CPO Rising’s Technology Round-Up series continues this week 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!
State of Flux and Zip Partner to Transform Procurement
LONDON —State of Flux, a global leader in supplier management services, and Zip, a leading AI-powered procurement orchestration platform, announced a new partnership, joining forces to redefine how procurement operates within organizations and across the profession.
The company stated that this collaboration integrates Zip’s consumer-grade interface and AI-powered intake and procurement orchestration technology with State of Flux’s renowned supplier relationship management (SRM) expertise, enabling businesses to focus on what truly drives value — understanding internal customer needs and managing supplier relationships to ensure customer satisfaction.
As the procurement landscape evolves, automation is transforming the transactional side of buying into a streamlined, efficient process. With these elements automated, procurement professionals are now able to focus more on strategic activities. Zip’s platform streamlines complex workflows across departments — from legal and IT to security and finance — seamlessly connecting all teams involved in the procurement lifecycle, while State of Flux empowers organizations to manage their suppliers as an integral part of the enterprise, helping them drive innovation, improve performance, and ultimately delight their end-customers.
According to Alan Day, CEO and founder of State of Flux, “This partnership has the potential to transform procurement. By automating the transactional elements with Zip, procurement teams can now dedicate more time to understanding and delivering on the needs of their internal customers,” he said.
“Our collaboration enables suppliers to be treated as strategic partners, driving long-term success for organizations,” said. “We are excited to work with ZipHQ to bring this innovative approach to the industry.”
Sharing his excitement about the partnership, Rujul Zaparde, co-founder and CEO of Zip, said, “We’re excited to partner with State of Flux to help businesses maximize the value of their supplier relationships,” he said.
“By streamlining complex procurement workflows and automating routine tasks, we’re freeing up procurement teams to focus on strategic initiatives that drive business growth. Together with State of Flux, we’re helping organizations operate at peak performance by ensuring they can seamlessly access the resources they need.”
Read the full announcement here.
Cleo Acquires DataTrans Solutions, Drives Next-Gen Procurement Automation
CHICAGO — Cleo, a global leader in ecosystem integration software solutions and provider of the Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC) platform, announced the acquisition of DataTrans Solutions (DTS), a cloud-based procurement automation and EDI solutions provider.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The company stated that this strategic move expands Cleo’s ability to help businesses streamline procurement, optimize working capital, and strengthen supplier relationships. The acquisition comes as companies increasingly look to digitalize procurement processes.
According to Mahesh Rajasekharan, president and CEO of Cleo, “Cleo’s vision is to deliver true supply chain orchestration by bridging the gap between planning and execution,” he said.
“With DTS’s technology embedded into CIC, we’re empowering procurement teams to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and minimize supply chain risks — all through automation.”
Because many companies still rely on manual procurement processes, it leads to inefficiencies and increased costs. The company shared that by integrating DTS’s procurement automation capabilities, Cleo will provide businesses with a comprehensive, digital-first solution featuring:
- Supplier EDI & Testing Portal — Simplifies supplier onboarding
- Web EDI & PDF Digitization — Automates transactions across channels
- Supplier Scorecarding & Performance Tracking — Enhances visibility and compliance.
Read the full announcement here.
Aptean Enters into Agreement to Acquire Logility
ALPHARETTA, Ga. & ATLANTA — Aptean, a global provider of mission-critical enterprise software solutions backed by TA Associates, Insight Partners, Charlesbank Capital Partners, and Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Logility Supply Chain Solutions, Inc., a leader in AI-first supply chain management software.
According to TVN Reddy, CEO for Aptean, “Logility possesses years of experience helping global organizations design, build, and manage their supply chains” he said.
“The Logility platform delivers a mission-critical suite of AI-powered supply chain planning solutions designed to address even the most complex requirements. We look forward to welcoming Logility’s loyal customers and experienced team to Aptean.”
Logility provides AI-powered, advanced supply chain planning solutions designed to optimize inventory, improve demand forecasting, and streamline production planning. Logility delivers a comprehensive suite of solutions, including demand planning, inventory and supply optimization, manufacturing operations, network design, and vendor and sourcing management, with over 500 clients in more than 80 countries using its solution.
Sharing his thoughts, Allan Dow, president & CEO of Logility, said, “Aptean’s acquisition of Logility represents a new and exciting chapter for our company. Logility’s mission is to help organizations build sustainable, profitable supply chains that improve people’s lives and the world we live in,” Dow said.
“We look forward to continuing to provide AI‑first solutions to our strong client base alongside Aptean, which has an impressive track record of helping manufacturers and distributors thrive. We believe this transaction is a great outcome for our clients, Company and shareholders and will help Logility achieve its long-term potential.”
Read the full announcement here.
Vertice Looks to Simplify Procurement with $50 Million Series C Funding
LONDON and NEW YORK — Vertice, the spend optimization platform, announced $50 million in Series C funding led by Lakestar. This investment brings the total raised to over $100 million. Additional participants include Perpetual Growth and CF Private Equity, alongside existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and 83North.
The company stated that this oversubscribed round is the latest milestone in Vertice’s 2.5 year growth journey, exponentially scaling its worldwide revenue and customer base whilst maintaining best-in-class capital efficiency. The company has grown revenue 13x over the past 2 years. The Series C investment will further accelerate Vertice’s mission to create the go-to unified backbone for modern procurement teams. New automated product capabilities and integrations will help enterprise procurement and finance teams improve visibility, streamline processes, reduce costs, and make better decisions.
According to Roy Tuvey, founder and CEO at Vertice, “We created our own unfair advantage,” he commented. “After spending two years perfecting our SaaS and cloud spend optimization, achieving product-market fit and taking market share from established players, we’ve brought all of our data and insights directly into the workflow experience. All employees can now initiate any purchase, quickly, transparently and at the best price, while procurement can fully customize the workflows to their needs and embed granular approvals.”
Vertice offers fully customizable procurement workflows that deliver AI-supported insights into spend optimization, usage, and risk management directly within the workflow itself. These insights are based on Vertice’s negotiation experience across $3.4bn of SaaS and cloud spend on behalf of hundreds of enterprise customers globally, plus the unmatched benchmarking data Vertice has on 16,000+ software vendors.
Read the full announcement here.
