CloudForge, an AI-powered sales and procurement platform built for the metals supply chain, has emerged from stealth with $3.95 million in funding from Zero Infinity Partners, Resolute Ventures, and Bienville Capital.
The company is positioning its software as infrastructure for a sector it says still relies heavily on spreadsheets, legacy CRMs, and manual workflows, creating friction across both selling and sourcing. CloudForge says those bottlenecks lead to missed demand, inconsistent follow-up, under-monetized accounts, and slower quoting and sourcing that can stretch deal cycles and pressure win rates.
CloudForge’s platform combines outbound sales, CRM-style customer and vendor management, and procurement execution tools with what it describes as a proprietary market database of more than 165,000 verified metal companies across North America. The company says the product is designed to help metal service centers, fabricators, and machine shops find new buyers, expand existing accounts, and identify qualified suppliers, while emphasizing it is not a marketplace.
CloudForge highlighted early customer outcomes as proof points, including an example in which Tri-State Steel in North Carolina signed a new customer contract within a week of using the platform. The company also pointed to feedback from customers such as Metals & Alloys to illustrate perceived competitive advantage.
The new capital is expected to fund product development, expand CloudForge’s AI capabilities, and grow engineering and customer success to support broader national demand.
KEY QUOTES
“The metal industry doesn’t have a demand problem, it has a discovery and execution problem. Sales teams struggle to consistently find new buyers and re-engage existing accounts, while procurement teams waste hours tracking down the right suppliers. CloudForge is the AI co-pilot that turns that chaos into a repeatable growth engine, helping businesses win more customers, expand accounts, and source rapidly without adding headcount.”
Ben Marans, CEO and Founder, CloudForge
“I honestly wouldn’t recommend it to people close to us because I don’t want them using it.”
Metals & Alloys, customer
