Ever heard of an exciting, fast-growing procurement company attracting one of the biggest SaaS funding rounds this year? Chances are, you probably haven't - but that's exactly whatand Lu Cheng co-founded this innovative startup with the mission of shaking up the enterprise procurement landscape, and their efforts have now culminated in an impressive $190 million Series D funding round.
This decentralization has been compounded by the growing need to manage a wide range of risks, from cybersecurity and data privacy to regulatory compliance. As Cheng notes,"It's not just about the dollars and cents of the purchase. It's about the management of risk. That introduces cybersecurity, data security, ESG, privacy, legal, and IT – all these different teams signing off."
"We just replace incredibly manual processes," Zaparde said."People are tracking this stuff in manual Excel files, and we bring software to manage and automate that workflow." "If you take something like a security review, we can actually leverage AI agents to say, 'Hey, based on all the data we have about this supplier, here are the specific aspects of the security assessment flagged for review,'" Cheng explained."The goal is to automate steps in the procurement process so employees can focus on the strategic work."
Zip's rise, coupled with the substantial investment from renowned venture capitalists, suggests that the tide is turning. Procurement is finally being recognized as a vital, strategic function that deserves the same level of attention and investment as other core business operations.