Supply chain management remains a stubborn problem for many mid-market companies that cannot afford SAP or lack sufficient IT resources to manage a complex program. However, Didero, an early-stage startup, has come up with a solution to make it easier on them. Today, the company announced a $7 million seed investment while emerging from stealth and making its product generally available.
The Challenge of Supply Chain Management
We are trying to build an end-to-end suite that allows procurement teams to manage their suppliers across a range of existing point solution markets, said Tim Spencer, product lead and co-founder. This involves finding suppliers, negotiating contracts, managing purchase orders, producing invoices, and making payments while providing detailed analysis and handling background supplier management tasks.
Spencer explained that as they built the product, they wanted to take advantage of AI to help their target mid-market companies compensate for their lack of resources. Large companies can force suppliers to play by their rules, but smaller companies don’t have that luxury, and AI can handle a lot of the grunt work.
The Power of AI in Supply Chain Management
One of the huge unlocks here, particularly for our wedge of mid-market manufacturers, is AI, said Spencer. In the pre-AI world, it was basically not possible to do a lot of these tasks [in an automated way].
Didero uses a variety of AI models, including OpenAI and Google Gemini, depending on the task or requirement, and they are continually experimenting to see which model is best suited to what they are trying to accomplish. We’re using a lot of foundational models and APIs that are out there, said company CEO Tom Petit. We’re not creating our own foundational models, but we’re doing a lot of fine-tuning of some of the existing models.
In addition, Petit said that they have a few very specialized models that they’ve coded themselves to power things like extracting data from tables, purchase orders or price lists – documents that are key to the procurement process. This approach allows them to leverage the strengths of various AI models and tailor their solution to meet the specific needs of mid-market companies.
The Founding Team’s Expertise
Spencer and co-founder Lorenz Pallhuber bring the supply chain expertise, having run procurement at Markai and spent seven years at McKinsey advising Fortune 500 clients on supply chain and procurement software. Petit brings the technical chops and training in AI and machine learning, having co-founded Landis, a startup that raised over $200 million to help renters figure out how to get a mortgage.
The Product Launch and Funding
Didero launched in December and has been building out the product ever since. The $7 million seed round closed last month, led by First Round Capital with participation from Construct Capital, AI Grant, Box Group, Company Ventures, and Conviction. Industry angels also contributed.
The Future of Supply Chain Management
Didero’s solution offers a promising approach to solving the complex problem of supply chain management for mid-market companies. By leveraging the power of AI and fine-tuning existing models, they can provide a more efficient and effective way to manage suppliers, negotiate contracts, and track orders.
As the company continues to build out its product and expand its reach, it will be interesting to see how Didero’s solution impacts the supply chain management landscape. With its $7 million seed investment and growing team of experts, Didero is well-positioned to make a significant contribution to this space.
Conclusion
Supply chain management remains a stubborn problem for many mid-market companies that cannot afford SAP or lack sufficient IT resources to manage a complex program. However, with the help of AI-powered solutions like Didero, these companies can now access a more efficient and effective way to manage their suppliers, negotiate contracts, and track orders.
As the supply chain management landscape continues to evolve, it will be exciting to see how Didero’s solution impacts this space. With its commitment to leveraging the power of AI and fine-tuning existing models, Didero is well-positioned to make a significant contribution to solving the complex problem of supply chain management for mid-market companies.
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