Datapred, an innovator in direct material procurement software, today announced its first institutional fundraising, led by Berlin-based JOIN Capital. Datapred will use these funds to increase the decision augmentation capabilities of its software and expand its base of manufacturing clients.

"We are delighted that we found a growth partner that shares our belief in the potential of machine learning for energy and raw material procurement," said Thomas Oriol, Director of Datapred. "We are especially thankful for Join Capital's willingness to stick with the process and pull this investment off in today's difficult circumstances."

Chief Procurement Officers are increasingly taking advantage of data science and information technology to streamline procurement processes, from sourcing to payment. For energy and raw materials, machine learning solutions like Datapred provide industrial buyers with new opportunities to 'trade around their assets' – or purchase based on the real-time combination of market trend predictions and operational cost/constraint optimization.

We are delighted that we found a growth partner that shares our belief in the potential of machine learning for energy and raw material procurement

Datapred is already helping clients optimize over €1 billion in energy and raw material spend across multiple categories, including metals, chemicals and power. The company's objectives for the next few months are to increase product functionality (e.g. scenario building, risk factor analysis) and expand to geographies with favorable bases (e.g. Germany, Benelux).

Sebastian von Ribbentrop, Partner at JOIN Capital, will join the Datapred board as part of this funding deal.

"Procurement innovation is a top area of focus for us at JOIN," Sebastian said. "Managing risk is a key issue for global Chief Procurement Officers, and Datapred has created a proven, AI-enabled optimization platform for procurement leaders. We couldn't be more excited to partner with the exceptional team."