Cofactr – a supply chain and logistics management platform that streamlines production processes and policies for critical hardware manufacturers – announced the closing of its $17.2 million Series A funding round. Bain Capital led the funding, and they were joined by existing seed investors Y Combinator, Floating Point Ventures, Broom, and DNX. The new investment brings Cofactr’s total funding to $28.8 million.
Cofactr’s platform is already used by over 50 companies, including hardware manufacturers and R&D groups at major digital enterprises with ambitious plans to diversify into hardware products. These customers span high-compliance sectors like aerospace, defense, robotics, medical technology, and consumer-facing industries such as autonomous vehicles and wearables. Although Cofactr initially focused on electronics, it now sees significant demand from companies navigating electromechanical and mechanical supply chains.
The company will utilize the funding to build on this momentum by scaling go-to-market efforts and growing its supply chain risk management and process tools. And the company plans to introduce additional product categories, with multiple applications slated to launch each year.
Rather than producing parts by the millions, companies have to be able to source their parts and materials in lower volumes–something their internal operations are often not set up to support. And this is especially true of major corporations whose stringent internal policies and financial controls are often at odds with agility. In regulated industries, supply chain roadblocks are compounded by the need to comply with governmental requirements around suppliers, materials, and other aspects of the supply chain.
Companies with government contracts are mandated to use suppliers on American soil or those pre-determined to be in safer countries, with a trend toward Europe and North America. These suppliers must be vetted to ensure their manufacturing processes meet requirements. And these companies must also know the origins of all materials and comply with other supply chain criteria.
Cofactr automates and manages processes at the intersection of getting products to market fast and handling rigorous corporate and governmental processes. And within a single unified platform, companies can manage parts sourcing, handle supplier procurement–including selecting from a network of pre-vetted and screened suppliers of COTS materials (commercial-off-the-shelf) –approve and pay for orders, move items between vendors, ship and track delivery progress, and understand real-time stock availability. ITAR-compliant and running entirely on AWS’s Government Cloud, Cofactr itself is infrastructurally built to meet the requirements of high-compliance industries.
Cofactr’s clients include the robotics division of the world’s largest e-commerce marketplace, the hardware division of the world’s largest social media company, and the world’s leading self-driving car manufacturer.
Cofactr’s co-founders Matthew Haber and Phillip Gulley both have backgrounds in electronics manufacturing, third-party logistics and procurement automation.
KEY QUOTES:
“Traditional supply chain management has left serious gaps for innovative companies navigating the electronics and mechanical spaces. We’re filling them by creating a seamless link between Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Enterprise Resource Planning and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES).”
- Matthew Haber, CEO and Co-founder of Cofactr
“For these companies, it’s not agility or rigor–it’s both. We’re giving oversight departments the control, visibility, and processes they require while giving product engineers the tools they need to get products to market fast.”
- Phillip Gulley, the company’s Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder
“In mission-critical industries such as aerospace, defense, automotive and robotics, electronic components represent 70 percent of the bill of materials, yet existing procurement and supply chain software is generic and not built for the speed and requirements of electronics. Cofactr is the first modern AI solution for end-to-end electronics procurement and logistics that meets the needs of engineers, procurement teams and suppliers.”
- Ajay Agarwal, partner at Bain Capital Ventures
