o9 Solutions' valuation crosses $2.7 billion after $295 million funding

o9 Solutions raises $295 mn funding from General Atlantic, others

o9 Solutions, a leading enterprise AI software platform, said that it has received equity investments totaling $295 million from General Atlantic, including BeyondNetZero, its climate investing venture, Generation Investment Management, a pure-play sustainability investment manager, and existing investor KKR. The US-based firm is a provider for transforming planning and decision-making speed and quality in companies across industry verticals

General Atlantic, its BeyondNetZero venture and Generation Investment Management join KKR as investors in o9, valuing the company at $2.7 billion. This marks an increase from the $1 billion valuation in April 2020 at the time of the company’s first-ever external investment led by KKR, which is also participating in this funding round. This capital raise follows a record year during which the company reported a greater than threefold increase year-over- year in annual recurring revenue (ARR) from new customers.

This significant investment will help o9 build on its momentum and accelerate growth for its AI-powered Integrated Business Planning platform it calls the “Digital Brain” across industry verticals and markets. It will also help o9 drive continued innovation in R&D, industry knowledge models and partner ecosystem development that will help companies implement o9’s game-changing platform faster and realize greater value.

“We have an unprecedented opportunity in front of us,” said Chakri Gottemukkala, co-founder and CEO of o9. “Demand and supply volatility and complexity has been growing and the pandemic has only accelerated the challenges companies face in meeting customer service and financial goals. At the same time, there is significant pressure on boards and executives from customers and employees to also drive meaningful improvements in sustainability goals. And we believe that o9 is poised perfectly to help companies deal with these mega trends with a differentiated, proven platform.”

Today, leading companies across varied industry verticals that include retail, consumer and industrial products manufacturing, high-tech and semiconductor, life sciences, automotive, telecom, and oil and gas leverage o9’s Digital Brain platform for transforming their supply chain, commercial and integrated business planning capabilities. These companies are using o9’s Digital Brain platform to build a live, digital model of enterprise data and knowledge. This helps them detect demand and supply risks and opportunities, forecast demand more accurately, and evaluate what-if scenarios all in real time. By matching demand and supply intelligently and driving greater alignment and collaboration between customers, internal stakeholders and suppliers across the integrated supply chain, clients can realize significant value from their commercial plans and decisions while making measurable positive impact to the environment.

“Not only is an agile, intelligent and resilient supply chain one of the most important growth accelerators, it also inherently leads to a reduced carbon footprint - especially for organizations that operate on a global scale,” said Sanjiv Sidhu, chairman and co-founder, o9.  Sidhu said a sustainable supply chain requires companies to digitally transform their planning and decision-making capabilities.  He said o9’s Digital Brain platform makes the firm the partner of choice for companies across the world.

“We believe that o9 is uniquely positioned at the intersection of technology, supply chain, and sustainability,” said Tanzeen Syed, managing director, General Atlantic. “The business fits squarely within our theses at General Atlantic and BeyondNetZero to support companies that are leveraging innovation to tackle some of the most pressing issues in the world. “

Syed said o9 helps large organizations transform their costly, complex and resource-intensive supply chains into profitable and environmentally sound models - playing a critical role in enabling them to work toward net zero targets. 

Joy Tuffield, partner in the growth equity strategy at generation investment management, said that sustainability and supply chain issues have never been more important. “o9 is one of the rare companies that we believe can help global enterprises leverage the power of digital technologies to deliver on both imperatives,” said Tuffield. “We are excited by the commitment of o9 to be an enduring company with a positive influence on the world, in both what the company does and how it operates.”