Waterloo-based Bonfire has raised $11 million in financing.
The round was led by global investment firm Battery Ventures, with participation from existing investors including Crosslink Capital and Spider Capital. Bonfire also recently closed an $8 million Series A round and previously raised $3 million in seed funding.
Bonfire helps procurement teams define their sourcing objectives and requirements; engage suppliers; collect rich data from vendor proposals; and then collaboratively evaluate, analyze, and compare potential options online. The company targets both the public and enterprise sectors.
“We are seeing a fundamental shift in how procurement teams approach sourcing,” said Corry Flatt, Bonfire CEO and co-founder. “Procurement teams used to work in isolation, focused on largely tactical outcomes like incremental cost savings or basic compliance. But today’s procurement leaders have a new imperative: to drive transformative, strategic change. They’re searching for ways to make their sourcing process smarter, faster, more collaborative and data-driven—and that’s where Bonfire wins.”
The company says that it helps 170 organizations automate more than $12 billion of annual procurement decisions like requests for proposals (RFPs), bids, tenders, and reverse auctions. The company plans to use the funding to expand its sales and marketing teams, while also escalating product development in key areas like predictive analytics.
“Over the last 10 years, companies like Concur, Gusto and BlackLine have modernized basic corporate processes such as expense management, HR and benefits administration, and financial reporting,” said Michael Brown, general partner at Battery Ventures and new Bonfire board member. “So in 2017, it seems crazy that hundreds of billions—if not trillions—of dollars of procurement decisions are still being made offline, without the benefits of online collaboration and analysis. Excel is still the primary workhorse of sourcing decision-making.”
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