Katana raises $11M Series A to be the SaaS powering ‘manufacturing entrepreneurs’ – TechCrunch

Katana, an Estonian startup that has constructed manufacturing-specific enterprise useful resource planning (ERP) software program for SMBs, has raised $11 million in Sequence A funding.

Main the spherical is European enterprise capital agency Atomico, with participation from angel buyers Ott Kaukver (Checkout.com CTO), Sten Tamkivi (CPO Topia, previously Skype), Sergei Anikin (CTO, Pipedrive) and Kairi Pauskar (former TransferWise HR Architect). Earlier backer 42Cap additionally adopted on, bringing the full funding raised by the corporate to this point to $16 million.

Based in 2017 by Kristjan Vilosius (CEO), Priit Kaasik (engineering lead) and Hannes Kert (CCO), Katana positions itself because the “entrepreneur producer’s secret weapon” with a plug-and-play ERP for small to medium-sized producers. The thought is to wean firms off present antiquated instruments equivalent to spreadsheets and legacy software program to handle stock and manufacturing. The startup can also be enjoying into macro developments, equivalent to the appearance of on-line marketplaces and D2C e-commerce, which might be leading to an explosion of impartial makers, spanning cosmetics to house décor, electronics to attire, and meals and drinks.

“We’re seeing a worldwide renaissance of small manufacturing pushed by the rise of e-commerce instruments and client demand for bespoke merchandise produced regionally,” says Vilosius. “Simply stroll round any huge metropolis from London to San Francisco, and also you’ll see workshops throughout you. Somebody’s making natural cosmetics right here; over there, somebody is making electrical bikes. These firms are run by passionate entrepreneurs promoting by conventional channels, but additionally promoting by direct-to-consumer channels, e-commerce shops and marketplaces, and so forth. This can be a large increase of makers desirous to create merchandise and promote them globally, and it’s not a development that can disappear tomorrow”.

The issue, nevertheless, is that small and medium-sized producers don’t have the correct software program to help workflows essential to promote by a number of channels — and that is the place Katana is available in. The plug-and-play software program claims a superior UX designed particularly to energy boutique manufacturing, together with performance supporting the workflows of contemporary producers, i.e. stock management and optimization, and buying supplies, managing bill-of-materials, monitoring prices and extra. It additionally presents an API and integrations with widespread e-commerce gross sales channels and accounting instruments equivalent to Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, QuickBooks, Xero and others.

“We’ve constructed the world’s most self on-board-able manufacturing ERP, and that’s a vital differentiation between us and opponents,” explains Vilosius. “Implementation is so easy that greater than half of Katana’s customers self-onboard. It takes lower than per week on common to get Katana up and operating, in comparison with months for opponents”.

For instance of how an organization would possibly use Katana, think about a boutique producer utilizing Shopify as their principal gross sales channel. As soon as configured, Katana pulls in orders from Shopify and is aware of whether or not or not the product is offered so it may be shipped instantly. If it’s unavailable, Katana shows if the required uncooked supplies wanted to fabricate are in inventory and by when the product might be completed. “We deal with the complete course of from getting the uncooked supplies within the warehouse to planning manufacturing actions, executing and delivery when the product is completed,” says Vilosius.

Picture Credit: Katana

Cue assertion from Atomico associate Ben Blume, who joins the Katana board: “Atomico has at all times believed within the energy of Estonian-built engineering and product, and as we received to know the workforce at Katana, we noticed a well-known sample: a relentlessly product-focussed workforce with the unimaginable capability to construct and suppose from their buyer’s perspective, and an unwavering perception {that a} new era of producers with huge concepts shouldn’t should accept lower than world-class know-how to help them.”