Artificial intelligence-based supply chain platform raises £2.7m in funding

7Bridges, the artificial intelligence-based software provider for supply chains, has raised $3.4 million (£2.7 million) in seed funding as it looks to expand.

The London-based technology supplier is backed by Crane Venture Partners and LocalGlobe and was co-founded in 2016 by Philip Ashton and Matei Beremski.

It describes its technology as providing solutions for auditing costs, document creation, performance analysis and procurement and is able to directly integrate with carriers, fulfilment providers and ERP software platforms.

The artificial intelligence “continuously suggests” optimal logistics strategies, by simulating and predicting the impact of changes in the supply chain in the context of business constraints and goals.

Philip Ashton, co-founder and chief executive of 7bridges, said: “Customer expectations of deliveries have fundamentally shifted over the past few years, in terms of both speed and sustainability. While this dramatically increases the costs and complexity of the logistics category, it has created an opportunity to gain an enormous competitive advantage.

“At 7bridges, we enable businesses of any scale to rapidly implement and manage agile, efficient and sustainable logistics operations that can adapt to any market eventuality and keep the business moving.”

Scott Sage, partner at Crane Venture Partners, said: “Like many other industries, from banking to construction, supply chains are becoming rapidly digitised across the economy. This creates an incredibly important opportunity for disruption.”