SupplyCompass secures £1.5m in backing

SupplyCompass, a design-to-delivery sourcing platform that provides a sustainable solution for global supply chains, has agreed a £1.5m seed fund deal led by early-stage venture capital investor, Episode 1. 

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

The company is part vetted manufacturer network and part production management tool for fashion and interiors brands. It claims to be in unique in that its solution is "equally weighted" to ensure it works as well for the brands as it does for the manufacturers and suppliers.

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. 

It will place particular emphasis on the earlier stages of the sourcing process where it says there are greater opportunities lie for establishing sustainable practices, including manufacturer matching, design development and sampling.

Gus Bartholomew, SupplyCompass CEO & Co-Founder, said: “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, added: “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 acurrently unsustainable industry.”

Episode 1 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.

SupplyCompass was founded by Gus Bartholomew and Flora Davidson who met at university and spent two years living and working in India to build the foundations of the business. It was launched in early 2018 and now has 50 well-established, progressive factory partners in India (plus Sri Lanka and Nepal) and mainland Europe (including Portugal, Spain, Italy).