Sustainable sourcing platform is first UK company to receive £1.5m funding

SupplyCompass (www.supplycompass.com), a design-to-delivery sourcing platform that provides an efficient and sustainable solution for global supply chains, has agreed a £1.5m seed fund deal led by early-stage venture capital investor, Episode 1. The deal makes SupplyCompass the first UK-based sourcing company to receive funding of this level – a huge leap forward in supply chain innovation and sustainably-manufactured goods for consumers across the globe.

Based in London and Mumbai, SupplyCompass uniquely combines its strong supply chain partnerships with its cloud-based platform technology and team of production experts, to make sustainable sourcing and ongoing manufacturing management easy, fast and efficient.

SupplyCompass is part vetted manufacturer network and part production management tool for fashion and interiors brands. Unlike competitors that have focused their efforts on solving pain points purely for brands, SupplyCompass is equally weighted in providing a solution that works for international manufacturers and suppliers as well as brands, by streamlining the whole design development and production process from start to finish.

The UK-based sourcing company is on a mission to transform global supply chains into faster, more efficient and more sustainable outfits. The investment from Episode 1 – alongside Mumbai and London-based Unicorn Ascension, Ascension Ventures and Andy Chung and Philipp Moehring from AngelList – will enable SupplyCompass to develop its technology and expand its curated marketplace of best-in-class international manufacturers. Particular emphasis will be placed on the earlier stages of the sourcing process where greater opportunities lie for establishing sustainable practices, including manufacturer matching, design development and sampling.

Gus Bartholomew, SupplyCompass CEO & Co-Founder, comments: “Current sourcing methods aren’t fit for brands of the future; they’re offline, inefficient and fragmented. Technology is needed for global supply chains to progress and become faster, more efficient and more sustainable. At SupplyCompass we see the key to success lying in rethinking existing sourcing methods, with better collaboration, innovation and technology at the core. Our vision is to become the leading sourcing software for the pioneering fashion and interiors businesses of the future, and this funding from investors Episode 1 will help us to do just that.”

Adrian Lloyd, Episode 1 Partner, continues: “The SupplyCompass team is exceptionally knowledgeable about the fashion supply chain and all evidence suggests they are execution machines. We are extremely excited to fund their growth and technology development which we believe will help them develop into a very large and famous company whilst increasing the sustainability of a currently unsustainable industry.”

Episode 1 (www.episode1.com) is an early-stage venture capital investor that manages a £60m Enterprise Capital Fund, investing between £250k and £1m into high potential software-based businesses with significant operations in the UK.

Co-founders Gus Bartholomew and Flora Davidson met at university and spent two years living and working in India to build the foundations of SupplyCompass. Following its launch in early 2018, SupplyCompass now has 50 well-established, progressive factory partners in India (plus Sri Lanka and Nepal) and mainland Europe (including Portugal, Spain, Italy).

Suitable fashion and interiors companies are matched with a manufacturer within one day for free, with pricing based on a commission structure depending on the order value and manufacturing costs. SupplyCompass then operates on a three-stage approach:

1) Intuitive product development: accelerates the design development process with simplified processes, digital tech packs and sustainably-led designing

2) Trusted manufacturer selection: matches brands with world-class suppliers and manufacturers, using SupplyCompass’s visited, vetted and hand-picked extensive network, who adhere to responsible manufacturing practices

3) Streamlined production management: creates fast and efficient global supply chains by helping brands operate via a single dashboard with structured processes and collaborative manufacturer relationships