LOS ANGELES & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vamstar, the leading AI-enabled global sourcing and procurement platform for medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, today announced the close of its $9.5 million Series A funding round. Alpha Intelligence Capital (AIC) and Dutch Founders Fund (DFF) led the round, which also included existing investors btov Partners and Antler.
Vamstar will use this investment to accelerate market and product development plans, deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance its consumables and generics exchange platform, improving data quality for faster e-commerce, and digitizing procurement and sourcing processes for both buyers and suppliers across the industry.
The healthcare industry lacks an organized procurement system that integrates data, processes, people, and technology across the supply chain. Despite advances in other industries, hospital procurement processes have not integrated digitally with suppliers’ commercial processes, leading to supply chain inefficiencies. Not only is there a need to realize the benefits of digitizing sourcing and procurement processes to reduce transaction costs, but to improve the data foundation to drive value-based healthcare.
Digitizing Healthcare Commerce
Vamstar was founded in 2019 by industry veterans Praful Mehta, Richard Freeman, Ph.D., and Vishesh Duggar to tackle the problem at the root of sourcing and procurement transformation failures: data integrity and user engagement. Vamstar combines best-in-class functionality for streamlining healthcare sourcing and procurement processes by using Machine Learning, Deep Learning and Natural Language Processing to connect billions of data points across the supply chain network, provide real-time market intelligence, and enable digital commerce through a common e-procurement platform. Vamstar, in collaboration with the University of Sheffield and the University of Nottingham, have won Innovate U.K. funding for several high-profile projects including post-COVID recovery to help monitor supply chain risk, and supply-demand matching by creating the largest healthcare supply chain network.
“We see a tremendous opportunity in a market that is largely underserved for the Vamstar platform to organize the procurement system in the healthcare industry,” said Terry Chou, Partner at Alpha Intelligence Capital “The Company’s advanced Natural Language Processing capability sets them apart from other offerings. Paired with the strategic vision of the founders Praful, Richard, and Vishesh, Vamstar is setting the standard for procurement-enablement in healthcare.”
“Healthcare supply chains are under tremendous pressure with ongoing crises like COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and rising inflation,” said Vamstar founder and CEO Praful Mehta. “There is very little data available to help healthcare procurement managers and suppliers make decisions in real-time. At Vamstar, our goal is to empower supply chain professionals, clinicians, hospital administrators and their suppliers to collaborate in innovative ways to create meaningful relationships. It is only by enabling a shared vision for collaboration, fueled by better data and insights, that we can deliver greater value for all stakeholders and the wider community within the healthcare ecosystem.”
Vamstar connects both buyers and suppliers electronically to automate transaction and process flow across the supply chain on a global scale. The platform is used by businesses and organizations connecting suppliers, such as pharmaceuticals, consumables, medical devices, and digital technology companies, with public and private buyers, such as hospitals, laboratories, health insurances, clinics, corporations, universities or Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs).
Buyers can use Machine Learning to search across suppliers and their catalogs; launch tenders and sourcing events using automated workflows; receive bids and quotes in a prioritized sequence; and place orders electronically and automate the source-to-pay (S2P) processes. Suppliers on the other hand can get prioritized access to tenders, RFXs, and direct orders from 86,000 hospitals and clinics across 100+ countries directly or within their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms; get access to Machine Learning (ML) forecasts and Natural Language Processing (NLP) enriched catalog and tender award data with virtual supplier profiles, and receive orders electronically and automate the order-to-cash (O2C) processes.
About Vamstar
Vamstar is an AI-enabled global B2B healthcare supply chain platform. The company's cloud-based supply chain technology connects both buyers and suppliers to automate key business processes, translating data and outcome-based analytics into meaningful action for the healthcare ecosystem to move fast, operate efficiently and achieve great synergies, enabling better patient care and maximizing industry savings for its clients.
The company uses Big Data and Machine learning to enable smart sourcing, faster tendering, simplified contracting, real-time opportunities, embedded intelligence, and related services, including the web-based trading of healthcare products between hospitals, clinics, laboratories, and suppliers in the market.
By seeing the big picture and all the connections, Vamstar provides healthcare stakeholders with valuable market insights and perspectives. Vamstar partners with leaders in the industry, academia, and government in 100+ countries to apply higher-level thinking to daily tasks and strategic issues. They offer their customers solutions to make them more efficient and help them make data-driven informed decisions to secure their future. https://vamstar.io
About Alpha Intelligence Capital (AIC)
Alpha Intelligence Capital (AIC) is a global venture capital fund investing in deep Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) technology-based companies. AIC’s core focus lies in companies in the Series-A to Series-D stages, developing breakthrough products and solving real business problems. The teams at AIC operate out of San Francisco, Paris, Luxembourg, Singapore and Hong Kong. For more information, visit https://www.aicapital.ai
About Dutch Founders Fund (DFF)
Founded in 2018, the Dutch Founders Fund (DFF) is an early-stage VC that primarily invests in marketplaces and companies with strong network effects. The firm was founded by experienced entrepreneurs such as Laurens Groenendijk (Just Eat, Treatwell, Miinto, Hiber), Patrick Kerssemakers (fonQ), Bas Beerens (WeTransfer), Hidde Hoogcarspel (Spacebuzz), and Remco van Zanten (ex Booking, Zalando, BCG). For more information, visit https://www.dutchfoundersfund.com
About btov Partners
btov Partners is a European venture capital firm focusing on technology startups since 2000. btov’s community of entrepreneurial private investors provides it with unique expertise and supports the firm’s passion for discovering non-obvious businesses and promising founders. Its flagship Digital Tech fund focuses primarily on startups in the fields of data analytics, AI, fintech, SaaS, logistics, digital health, and digital marketplaces. With offices in Berlin, Zurich Munich, St. Gallen, and Luxembourg, the company invests approximately EUR 90 million across Europe per year. The most well-known investments include SumUp, DeepL, Raisin DS, Facebook, Foodspring, ORCAM, Volocopter, and XING. For more information, visit https://www.btov.vc
About Antler
Founded in Singapore in 2017 by a team of experienced entrepreneurs, investors and company builders, Antler is a global early-stage VC enabling and investing in the world’s most exceptional people. With offices across most major startup hubs globally, Antler is passionate about supporting exceptional people to fundamentally improve the world. For more information, visit https://www.antler.co
