Tealbook raises $14.4 million to aggregate procurement data with AI

Tealbook, a self-described supplier intelligence startup, today announced that it raised $14.4 million in a funding round led by RTP Global. The company says it’ll use the proceeds to drive sales and marketing initiatives, further expand the company’s footprint, and accelerate platform R&D.

Finding and agreeing to terms and acquiring goods, services, or works from an external source — the tasks involved with procurement — remain a challenge in the enterprise. According to a 2016 survey by Deloitte, 62% of chief procurement officers don’t believe their team has the skills and capabilities to deliver their procurement strategy, compared with 48% two years ago. A more recent report suggests visibility is among the biggest challenge for global supply chain executives, closely followed by customer demand and data management. .

Tealbook, which Stephany Lapierre founded in 2014, hosts a network of buyers and suppliers curated by “autonomous data enrichment technology.” The company claims to proactively capture and maintain changing supplier information, delivering a database that other procurement solutions can leverage to ensure investments are successful.

Tealbook’s algorithm and integration capabilities let “cleansed, harmonized, and enriched” data flow into the platforms of a customer’s choice, including enterprise resource planning systems for catalog management, risk spend visibility, strategy execution, and more. For each supplier, the platform spotlights detailed descriptions, products and services, and similar suppliers. Moreover, it provides contact, trust, financial, risk, and certifications information like sales and executive contact info, ethical and sustainable practices, revenue projections, and reviews.

Lapierre says that Tealbook crawls over 400 million different supplier websites, cataloging and aggregating data as it gathers fragmented information from disparate, hidden sources across the web. “Once an organization reaches thousands to hundreds of thousands of suppliers, data quickly becomes disparate across systems and people. That siloed data can lead to significant negative and costly consequences for businesses,” she said. “Tealbook gives [power] back to these companies as we are able to unify and synchronize supplier data.”

Tealbook says its partner network canvasses over 600 “concealed” databases and organizations like Ivalua, Jaggaer, Beroe, and Noosh. Through the pandemic, the company worked with the U.K. government, Brooks Brothers, and Gilead Sciences among others to help find PPE, pivot manufacturing, and extend diversity spending.

Tealbook occupies a global procurement software market that’s anticipated to reach $7.3 billion by 2022. Among its rivals are Scoutbee in Berlin and Scout RFP, a San Francisco-based e-sourcing platform provider that has raised $60.3 million to date, as well as Procurify, a cloud-based procurement software company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada that nabbed $20 million in June 2019. A newer entrant is Boston-based Fairmarkit, which snagged $11 million in venture capital for its enterprise spend optimization tools.

RTP Global, BDC Capital, Grand Ventures, Reciprocal Ventures, Refinery Ventures, S&P Global, Stand Up Ventures, and Workday Ventures participated in Tealbook’s series A funding, a mixture of equity and debt from Silicon Valley Bank. The company’s total raised to date now stands at over $23 million.