A company that handles supply-chain data just got a lot of money to do what it does even more.
Tustin, Calif.-based Specright Inc. raised $30 million in a Series B round of funding to support continued growth, according to a news release.
The firm makes specification management software enabling companies to manage and share supply chain data across suppliers, manufacturers and retailers.
Led by Sageview Capital — with participation from previous investors Pritzker Venture Capital Group (PGVC), Okapi Venture Capital, Fika Venture, and Mucker Capital — the round of funding will enable the company to double its headcount by early 2022 and expand operations globally.
“Specification management is at an inflection point,” founder and CEO Matthew Wright said in the release. “During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many supply chain executives realized they didn't have control over the data they needed to build resilient supply chains or meet the demands of modern consumers. Specright provides value enhancing solutions to these challenges, which benefit many businesses, including Fortune 500 companies and consumers alike.”
Wright recognized the need for specification management six years ago, after spending 20 years in the packaging industry and grappling with these problems firsthand. In recent years, the market has grown as companies across industry sectors became aware of the gaps in existing products and solutions, according to the release.
Specright’s platform enables companies across a wide variety of industries to digitize specification data that typically lives in spreadsheets or PDFs, such as raw material, ingredients, formulas, packaging, product and machinery specifications.
The company’s patented many-to-many data framework enables stock-keeping unit consolidation and visibility into the relationships of different specifications across an organization.
Once specifications are digitized in the Specright platform, customers share specs with colleagues, suppliers and other partners such as retailers or co-manufacturers.
The ability to share data on the Specright network ensures stakeholders are on the same page and that changes are communicated seamlessly across an organization’s supply chain.
Scott Stuart, managing partner and cofounder of Sageview, will join the company’s board and has seen the need for new supply chain solutions firsthand. Stuart spent 20 years at the private equity firm KKR, where he oversaw investments across industries, with a particular focus on consumer products.
“At Sageview, we look to partner with companies that are category creators and true disruptors,” Stuart said in the release.
In 2020, technology research firm Gartner named Specright a “Cool Vendor in Supply Chain,” highlighting the gap that exists in digital supply chain initiatives. Packaging programs at Michigan State University, Wisconsin-Stout, Rutgers and Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo are educating students on the importance of managing specifications using Specright’s software.
Jason Higbee, general manager at Grimmway Farms and Specright’s first customer, has been part of the journey from day one.
“When Matthew first came to me with the idea for a templated approach to managing specs, I knew it would be a game changer,” Higbee said in the release. “In retrospect, it was a no-brainer from an ROI standpoint – it’s helped us realize meaningful cost savings and accelerate our time to market.”