Makersite, a sustainable supply chain solutions startup, raises $18 Million

Makersite, a provider of sustainable product and supply chain solutions, said today that it has raised €18 million in a Series A funding round. The funds will be used to enhance its supply chain analytic capabilities and accelerate customer acquisition.

2018-founded Stuttgart, Germany-based Makersite is an AI and data-driven platform designed to enable large-scale, sustainable product and supply chain decisions. The company's solutions assist manufacturing enterprises in overcoming complex challenges across the entire value chain by mapping a company's portfolio of products, suppliers, and manufacturing processes against more than 140 material and supply chain databases and providing "digital twins" of each product and how it is manufactured, utilized, and discarded.

The platform is utilized by Microsoft, Vestas, Cummins, and Procter & Gamble, among others.

Neil D'Souza, Makersite's founder, stated:

"We utilized decades of experience to solve an issue that had previously eluded the manufacturing industry. How do you speed up the production of superior products in an increasingly complex environment? One of the solutions we've identified is to simplify and decentralize decision-making by delivering precise, real-time, and actionable multi-criteria data on the sustainability, cost, and risk consequences of decisions."

Makersite's financing comes at a time when corporate sustainability efforts are increasingly focusing on supplier chains, which are frequently the key source of impact and ESG risk for businesses. In many sectors, for instance, "Scope 3" emissions, which are outside of corporations' direct control, account for the great bulk of their climate footprint.

Hitachi Ventures, the global venture capital arm of Hitachi, Ltd., and Silicon Valley-based VC fund Translink Capital led the fundraising round. Other investors included the venture capital firm KOMPAS and the seed investor Planet A.

Tobias Jahn, Partner at Hitachi Ventures, said:

"The market requires a solution that will aid in the design of sustainable products for the future. Understanding a product's environmental footprint and its impact on cost, compliance, and supply chains throughout product development are required for businesses to become more environmentally conscious and prepared for a sustainable economy. Makersite includes everything necessary to embrace sustainable product design by integrating data insights into product development and supply networks.