Goods Forecast, a developer of supply chain optimization, raised $206 million from a fund managed by Kama Flow

The NTI Venture Fund, managed by the investment company Kama Flow, invested $2,8 mln in a Russian software developer in the field of business planning and supply chain optimization for manufacturing and trading companies GoodsForecast. The funds will be used to develop the GoodsForecast Integrated Planning Platform based on artificial intelligence and big data analytics technologies.

The platform provides automation of the full cycle of integrated planning for a wide class of manufacturing and trading enterprises, including both the consumer goods sector and heavy industry. Thanks to the low-code approach, its configuration and implementation are carried out in a short time without the involvement of specialized technical specialists, and the use allows you to increase the accuracy of planning and reduce costs throughout the supply chain by more than 20%.
GoodsForecast solutions are used by enterprises from various fields of activity, among clients — Cherkizovo Group, Technonicol Corporation, Rusagro Group of Companies, KNAUF International Group, Pulse Pharmaceutical company, OK Group, Verny supermarket chain, Perekrestok supermarket chain, PJSC M.Video", etc.

Andrey Lisitsa, CEO of GoodsForecast: “The predictive analytics market in Russia is actively developing, and the vast majority of companies have far from exhausted the potential for better planning. Integration of planning processes allows companies to achieve a significant increase in sales volumes, reduce costs, ensure transparency and scalability of processes. Our clients are big businesses, and historically we have competed in our niche with global vendors, but the current policy of import substitution opens up new opportunities for GoodsForecast growth. The joint partnership with Kama Flow will significantly expand the customer base, increase the speed of the company's development, as well as take the first steps in foreign markets.

Evgeny Borisov, partner of Kama Flow: “In conditions of restrictions and withdrawal of foreign companies, GoodsForecast products are able to quickly close the need for solving routine tasks and increased supplier problems against the background of a global supply chain gap. We expect that following the global, the Russian market of supply chain solutions will grow many times. We are confident that thanks to a team with strong scientific competencies in the field of ML, a unique library of forecasting algorithms collected and proven by more than a hundred successful efficiency cases, the company will take a confident leadership in the market in the near future.”

Oleg Teplov, CEO of VEB Ventures: “Our task is to help domestic enterprises adapt to the new realities as quickly as possible for comfortable business in Russia by providing a competitive and high–quality alternative to Western vendors. GoodsForecast's platform is one of such solutions, which will not only be able to close all topical issues related to import substitution, redistribution of the supply chain, but also determine periods of shortage and provide data in the format of daily monitoring of lost sales. According to our data, IT-enterprise solutions and investments in it for supply chain management will increase by at least 13% annually. In addition, according to recent research, the reorganization of supply chains based on the use of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning or blockchain, lead to a reduction in the operating costs of the company by at least 30%. And the use of high-tech software for managing the Supply chain system is becoming a key component for the implementation of the strategy for digitalization of business, improving the quality of customer service and the stability of the entire logistics system as a whole.”

Vadim Medvedev, General Director of the NTI Project Support Fund, ex-Director of the Department of Innovation and Advanced Research of the Ministry of Education and Science: “Many people are looking at how we do and what we do. The achievements that we demonstrate to the world are for many an example and a reference for both methods in education and technologies in use. Today we can and should expand the range of products and technologies with which we compete in the global market, taking into account the global agenda. Our efforts to develop robotic systems, automation and planning are absolutely right. Process optimization and automation technologies can significantly simplify and improve the functioning of the entire supply chain and increase the operational efficiency of the enterprise as a whole.”

GoodsForecast (LLC "Goodfocast") was established in 2013 on the basis of the company "Forexis", founded by a group of mathematicians from the computing center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and Moscow State University. The company is a multiple winner of Russian and international competitions, is in the top 3 of the world ranking for the accuracy of forecasting M5 Forecasting Competition. Among the clients are the largest Russian companies from the FMCG, retail and industrial sectors (Cherkizovo Group, Technonicol Corporation, Rusagro Group of Companies, KNAUF International Group, Pulse Pharmaceutical company, OK Group, Verny supermarket chain, Perekrestok supermarket chain, PJSCM.Video" and other large manufacturing and trading enterprises). The founders are Alexander Cherepnin, Andrey Lisitsa, Sergey Kotik, Daniil Kanevsky. He is a grantee of the Foundation for the Promotion of Innovation and RFRIT. Resident of Skolkovo since 2013.