SAN FRANCISCO – New York startup Cofactr raised $17.2 million in a series A investment round.
With the new funding, Cofactr will hire engineering and customer-service personnel to support its supply chain and logistics management platform designed for high-compliance industries like aerospace.
Stoke Space, one of Cofactr’s early customers, helped the founders recognize the rigorous data sovereignty, traceability and quality-management requirements space companies face.
“Many of our earliest customers were building rocket ships and satellites,” Matthew Haber, Cofactr CEO and co-founder, told SpaceNews. “To this day, almost 50 percent of our customers are in aerospace and defense.”
Catering to regulated industries requires Cofactr to ensure its platform keeps up with changing government requirements. For instance, the platform helps customers comply with International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
In addition to the platform, Cofactr operates warehouses for electronic components used by high-compliance industries. With the recent investment, Cofactr plans to open additional warehouses.
Meanwhile, Cofactr will expand its product line to enhance collaboration.
“Our product is used both by the companies that build satellites and contract manufacturers that build parts that go into them,” Haber said. “We’re investing in tools those companies can use to work together.”
Investment RoundBain Capital led Cofactr’s Series A round. Y Combinator, Floating Point Ventures, Broom and DNX, firms that backed Cofactr’s 2022 seed round, participated. The new investment brings Cofactr’s total funding to date to $28.8 million.
“In mission-critical industries such as aerospace, defense, automotive and robotics, electronic components represent 70 percent of the bill of materials, yet existing procurement and supply chain software is generic and not built for the speed and requirements of electronics,” Ajay Agarwal, Bain Capital Ventures partner, said in a statement. “Cofactr is the first modern AI solution for end-to-end electronics procurement and logistics that meets the needs of engineers, procurement teams and suppliers.”
More than 50 hardware manufacturers and research and development groups rely on Cofactr products. Customers include “the robotics division of the world’s largest e-commerce marketplace, the hardware division of the world’s largest social media company, and the world’s leading self-driving car manufacturer,” according to the news release.
“Traditional supply chain management has left serious gaps for innovative companies navigating the electronics and mechanical spaces,” Haber said in a statement. “We’re filling them by creating a seamless link between Product Lifecycle Management, Enterprise Resource Planning and Manufacturing Execution Systems.”
Phillip Gulley, Cofactr co-founder and chief strategy officer, said in a statement, “For these companies, it’s not agility or rigor–it’s both. We’re giving oversight departments the control, visibility, and processes they require while giving product engineers the tools they need to get products to market fast.”