Katana, an enterprise resource preparing (ERP) platform for the manufacturing market, has raised $11 million in a series A round of funding led by Atomico.
The worldwide ERP industry was pegged as a $43 billion market in 2020, according to some estimates, a figure that could rise to $60 billion inside 5 years. ERP software program incorporates a suite of integrated applications that organizations use to handle processes across a company, spanning accounting, HR, inventory and order management, client connection management (CRM), and more. For companies particularly, ERP software program can bridge all these numerous elements, assistance them determine bottlenecks, and in the end increase their efficiency.
Founded out of Tallinn, Estonia, in 2017, Katana touts itself as the “manufacturing entrepreneur’s secret weapon,” one that is searching for to energy nearby production for smaller sized firms. Indeed, there has been a developing micro-manufacturing trend more than the previous decade, exactly where smaller sized nearby companies are promoting direct-to-customer (D2C) thanks in element to the proliferation of ecommerce tools and cloud computing. And this is the industry that Katana is searching for to serve with a plug-and-play ERP platform that integrates with tools and marketplaces such as Shopify, Amazon, eBay, Magento, WooCommerce, Xero, and QuickBooks to increase productivity and material inventory handle.
“We are seeing a global renaissance of small manufacturing driven by the rise of ecommerce tools and consumer demand for bespoke products produced locally,” Katana CEO and cofounder Kristjan Vilosius told VentureBeat. “Just walk around any big city from London to San Francisco, and you’ll see workshops all around you. This is a massive boom of makers wanting to create products and sell them globally, and it is not a trend that will disappear tomorrow.”
For instance, if a corporation sells goods via an Amazon retailer, the corporation can plug Katana straight into Amazon and track all the orders that come via and straight away surface no matter whether the solution is out there or, if not, no matter whether the raw components are in stock and therefore estimate how lengthy the solution may possibly take to finish.
Indeed, Katana’s automated booking engine tracks inventory, make automatic inventory adjustments, and allocates components to orders as quickly as they’re generated. If the order priority adjustments, Katana will redistribute the inventory to match the new production schedule.
“We handle the entire process, from getting the raw materials in the warehouse to planning manufacturing activities and execution when the product is done,” Vilosius explained.
Setup
While there are a lot of tools to assistance companies handle their workflows, issues promptly get complicated as you add more third-party tools to the mix, specifically when current tools may perhaps involve numerous spreadsheets or legacy applications with questionable user friendliness or difficult setup processes. Katana is made to work on any device, which is specifically helpful for shop floors exactly where mobile phones make more sense than laptops, and is totally self-serve. Moreover, when it ships with myriad integrations out of the box, Katana also presents an open API for companies to create their personal integrations on top rated of the Katana platform.
“Implementation is so simple that more than half of Katana’s users self-onboard,” Vilosius stated. “It takes less than a week on average to get Katana up and running, compared to months for competitors.”
Among Katana’s characteristics are production preparing tools, like drag-and-drop prioritization for manufacturing tasks components availability tracking delay danger identification genuine-time inventory handle and optimization sales order fulfillment and shop floor handle for workshop customers.
Elsewhere, Katana also presents companies genuine-time information on the whole manufacturing workflow, spanning sales orders, completed goods, inventory, material buying needs, and more — all presented in a single view.
Prior to now, Katana had raised about $5.5 million, and with an additional $11 million in the bank, the corporation is nicely-financed to develop its group double down on solution improvement.
A common Katana client will have anyplace from $one hundred,000 to $one hundred million in income, and spans something from organic cosmetics and electronics to surfboards and meals & drink.
“These businesses are led by manufacturing entrepreneurs committed to sustainability and supporting local production,” Vilosius stated. “These individuals embrace technology. Many of them have turned a gap in the market, or a pain point they have personally experienced, into a brand new product and a growing business.”