Here’s the 9-page pitch deck Tealbook used to raise its $50 million Series B and help businesses source from more diverse suppliers
- Tealbook uses artificial intelligence to build supplier data, so buyers can find new suppliers fast.
- The startup uses AI-boosted data to help institutions source from more diverse suppliers.
- Check out the nine-page pitch deck below.
When supply chains are strapped, strategies need to change. And when supply chains are strapped because of transportation bottlenecks, some companies get around the holdups by buying goods from new suppliers. Vietnam’s ports congested to the point of standstill? Find a factory in Indonesia to make the same goods.
The idea sounds pretty simple. The reality is anything but.
“We have customers that are relocating their entire supply chain from China to North America,” Stephany Lapierre, founder of Tealbook, told Insider in 2021. The Toronto-based startup specializes in supplier data, from safety certifications to sustainability bona fides and everything in between.
Buyers use this kind of data to decide where to buy raw materials or have finished goods produced. But just finding and verifying new suppliers can take weeks, Lapierre said. Tealbook aims to wield its AI-boosted data to get that down to days.
The supply-chain chaos of the pandemic pushed her to move her Series A round up two quarters, and Lapierre raised nearly $65 million in 2021 alone.
Investors, she said, were amenable since supply chains had entered the public consciousness.
Beyond a manufacturer’s ability to make a product to the correct standard, companies today need all kinds of data about their suppliers they didn’t used to. Ownership data can help meet diverse sourcing claims; raw-materials data can help with ethical sourcing goals; carbon-emissions data can help with climate goals. In today’s supply-chain environment, decisions are speeding up while the stakes are getting higher.
Massive software players like SAP and Oracle have software for this, but they don’t always have the deep data of a dedicated player like Tealbook, Lapierre said. Tealbook fills in the gaps, either layered on top of enterprise-procurement software or used on its own.
When Teabook partnered with the University of Massachusetts to improve the diversity of its supplier base, the startup was able to increase it’s number of diverse suppliers and dollars spent with them by 28% in the first year.
Here’s the pitchbook Lapierre used to land her $50 million Series B round led by Ten Coves Capital, with participation from BDC Capital, Grand Ventures, RBC Ventures, Reciprocal Ventures, Refinery Ventures, S&P Global, Stand Up Ventures, RTP Global, Workday Ventures, CIBC Ventures, and Good Friends.