Vienna (AT), May 9th: Prewave, the supply chain risk management and compliance platform used by hundreds of clients, including BMW, PwC, and Lufthansa, secured 18m Euro in funding in a Series A+ by leading European VC Creandum, a backer of Europe’s leading tech companies including Spotify, Klarna, and SEON. The strong Series A investment led by KOMPAS and Ventech in 2022 is now followed up with a Series A+ to take Prewave from a platform that identifies risks, to an action platform that proactively addresses and resolves risks within supply chains.
Prewave strives to be the all-inclusive solution for managing supply chain risks, covering every phase of the risk lifecycle. By identifying, analyzing, mitigating, and reporting risks, the platform ensures a complete end-to-end approach for a more transparent, resilient, and sustainable supply chain of the future.
In today’s highly competitive business landscape, supply chain risk management has evolved from a boardroom discussion to a strategic differentiator. Companies face mounting challenges in navigating complex supply chains, grappling with ESG concerns, disruptions, visibility, and compliance. The surge in consumer demand for sustainability has led to stricter international supply chain regulations and significant reputational risks for businesses impacted by ESG incidents within their supply networks. Moreover, supply chain disruptions have emerged as a primary cost driver in recent years, fueled not only by external factors such as pandemics and international conflicts but also by an array of intricate, interconnected issues.
Under the leadership of Dr. Lisa Smith and Harald Nitschinger, Prewave delivers a dynamic supplier risk score, derived from big data supply chain analysis. It allows companies to monitor their entire supply chain and equip users with the ability to execute corrective and preventive measures, minimizing risk and enhancing individual supplier performance. Consequently, they can effortlessly adhere to international regulations such as the German Supply Chain Act and the forthcoming European Supply Chain Due Diligence Directive.
As co-founder Harald Nitschinger puts it: “Prewave started 2022 with a team of 20 employees, but as a testament to its remarkable growth and success, the company has now exceeded 100 employees. This expansion mirrors the substantial revenue increase Prewave has experienced over the last year. As of now, Prewave has pioneered a comprehensive solution for supply chain risk monitoring and compliance, that establishes Prewave as first mover and a key player in the supply chain risk discipline. Now the time has come to become the first true, end-to-end operating system for supply chain risk.”
Sabina Wizander, Partner at Creandum: “Increased disruption, political instability, consumer consciousness and changing regulation uncover the painful truth that current supply chain risk management is not serving the complex environment in which we live. Prewave has built a first of its kind solution that allows companies to take action on their supply chain in real-time. Its dynamic supplier risk score creates much-needed transparency. This is why we are excited to lead Prewave’s Series A+ round. Prewave is an end-to-end solution that allows companies to take control of their supply chain. High customer demand across industries and geographies reflects the need for their solution and we are excited to back Lisa, Harald and team.”
Next to the investment of Creandum, existing Investors KOMPAS, Ventech, seed+speed, Segnalita, Speedinvest, Working Capital Fund and xista science ventures also took up their preemptions and renewed their trust in Prewave.
Prewave is actively seeking talented and driven Supply Chain Risk Heroes to join our diverse team across various departments and functions. If you possess the skills and passion to contribute to the growth of the most influential scale-up in the supply chain industry, visit prewave.com/careers and submit your application today.
About Prewave
Established in 2017 by Dr. Lisa Smith and Harald Nitschinger, Prewave emerged from the exploration of using machine learning to identify supplier risks through social media data analysis. This concept was validated by a postgraduate thesis and multiple trips to Indonesia, eventually leading to the model’s successful real-world application. Today, Prewave fulfills its mission of enhancing supply chain sustainability, resilience, and transparency daily, one risk alert at a time. To learn more visit: www.prewave.com
About Creandum
Creandum is a leading European early-stage venture capital firm. Since 2003, Creandum has backed some of Europe’s most successful tech companies such as Spotify, iZettle, Klarna, Kahoot, Vivino, depop, and Trade Republic. Creandum’s advisory teams are based in Stockholm, Berlin, and San Francisco, and support the fund’s portfolio of more than 100 companies. To learn more visit http://www.creandum.com.
About Kompas
Kompas is an early-stage venture capital firm funding breakthrough innovations that accelerate digital transformation and industrial automation across the built environment and manufacturing industries. Founded in October 2021, Kompas supports the creation of a more sustainable economy by backing innovative engineering solutions that dramatically reduce waste and CO2 emissions. Kompas is led by Partners Talia Rafaeli, Sebastian Peck, and Andreas Winter-Extra, and is headquartered in Copenhagen with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin and Tel Aviv. Fund I (€135M) backs Seed and Series A companies across Europe, Israel and North America.
About Ventech
Ventech is a global early-stage venture capital firm with a strong digital focus. Founded in 1998, Ventech backs the most innovative and visionary tech entrepreneurs with a global ambition. With its dual structure platform, Ventech has dedicated funds for Europe (Paris, Munich, Berlin & Helsinki) and Asia (Shanghai and Hong Kong).
Since its inception, Ventech has raised over 900m€, and has realized over 200 investments, (including Vestiaire Collective, Passion.io, Ogury, Picanova, Veo, Reveal, Speexx) and over 90 exits (Fintecsystems – acquired by Tink; Believe (BLV.PA) – listed on Euronext; Arteris (AIP) listed on Nasdaq). For more information, visit www.ventechvc.com. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @Ventech_VC
About seed + speed Ventures
seed + speed Ventures is a pre-seed and seed VC focussing on B2B and enterprise software startups in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. As a lead- or co-investor, seed + speed initially invests up to €500k in promising young startups and supports the development of sustainable, successful sales structures through tailored sales coaching by its in-house sales trainers. Thus seed + speed actively adds value to the operational business of its portfolio companies to enable faster growth. To learn more visit www.seedandspeed.com.
