NNA Business News: Singapore’s Quincus aims to be supply-chain disruptor as it expands worldwide

SINGAPORE, NNA – Singapore-based supply-chain software start-up Quincus Pte Ltd is poised for further expansion across the globe as it beefs up international networks with innovative solutions following a successful Series B funding round recently.

Having raised an undisclosed sum which was substantial enough to bring its valuation to more than $100 million, it will grow its presence in the Asia-Pacific, North America, the Middle East, and certain markets in Latin America and Europe, said the company.

Logistics providers, e-commerce players and airlines are among its clients using its configurable and modular software solutions created with advanced technologies. The platforms bring their employees, vendors, customers, and hubs together in a shared ecosystem supported by cloud-based technology.

Quincus currently has operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan, Vietnam, UAE, the US, and the UK. It is on track for growing its 100-strong team to over 400 to support operations at recently launched offices across Canada and the Middle East by the end of the year.

The company also wants to expand to new markets in the Americas, South Korea and Japan by 2022.

Apart from boosting talent pool and software capabilities, Quincus has also roped in respected industry professionals to advise the company on growth strategies.

One of them is a new board director, David Jen, who currently heads the investment and finance team at X, Alphabet’s moonshot factory, which develops radical technologies to solve pesky problems.

Announcing his appointment on Oct. 28, Quincus said Jen will provide expert advice on strategic investment as the company grows globally.

He boasts “two decades of finance and strategy development experiences across a comprehensive portfolio of deep technology companies spanning multiple industries, from self-driving cars to drone delivery, healthcare, and telecommunications,” said Quincus in a press release.

“We are thrilled to have David on the team as he brings a perfect mix of visionary, organizational leadership and corporate experience to counsel us as we grow,” said Jonathan E. Savoir, CEO and a co-founder of Quincus.

“David is passionate about turning emerging technologies into businesses, transparency through metrics, and creating the right environment for repeatable innovation – a perfect fit for Quincus as we strengthen our foothold globally,” Savoir said.

He told NNA, “Through David Jen’s experience at Alphabet, X, he allows us to see a bigger and broader picture of what type of technologies should be deployed during the current supply chain woes as well as where we should be investing our resources to help our customers better.”

Savoir said Quincus brings digitization, visibility and optimization in operations to its global customers to help them solve supply chain problems

“As a result, our customers have more confidence in knowing their shipment will arrive on time and are able to plan a whole lot better,” Savoir said.

Given the current situation of the supply chain disruptions and increasing shipping rates, clients can change the way they operate and create a more efficient supply chain, he added.

While Jen is fascinated by how the global network of transportation delivers everyday goods to families all over the world, he believes it could be more efficiently done by modernizing the way things are done.

He said, “Yet despite commerce being ever more complicated, supply chain technology hasn’t fundamentally changed for decades.”

The shift to the new has started, moving from rigid systems built around global hubs to scaling to a multimodal model powered by big data and advanced artificial intelligence, Jen said.

“Observing the Quincus team develop their platform over the past few months, I believe Quincus is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation. I am excited to work with the Quincus team to democratize the movement of goods and commerce everywhere,” he enthused.

Another two faces on Quincus board are Weihan Liew, a venture partner at GGV Capital, a global venture capital firm; and Ally Warson, a principal at UP.Partners, a US-based electrification and mobility fund.

Completed in September, Quincus’ Series B funding round was led by UP.Partners. Also participating was existing investor GGV Capital, which is known for backing well-known unicorns like Airbnb, Alibaba, Grab, and Slack.

The latest round came after its Series A round in January, which saw the participation of GGV Capital, Masik Enterprises and Aletra Capital Partners.

Since its founding in 2014 by Savoir and Katherina-Olivia Lacey, Quincus has been working closely with a number of household e-commerce, logistics and airline companies to solve their supply chain problems globally.

Since the start of 2021, Quincus has seen a 600 percent growth in shipments across 48 countries and continues to see impressive traction in terms of customer numbers and gross transaction volumes.

The company now transacts over 70 million shipments a month while analyzing over 1.4 quadrillion data points.

Savoir said, “There is an awesome opportunity in the supply chain and logistics sector as the industry goes through digitalization influenced by global and local trade activities, as well as the pandemic. Companies are seeing the urgency to provide better and faster services to satisfy the demands from both consumers and businesses today while ensuring their operations are kept cost-efficient.”

Moreover, there is a demand for a greener supply chain as environmental, social and corporate governance (ESCG) is a top consideration for many today, said Savoir, adding that Quincus’ simple plug-and-play technology applications could provide the relevant solutions to suit customer needs.

Quincus wil further enhance its multi-mile offerings by strengthening real-time visibility and machine learning optimization platforms.

“This will help create a more robust and connected supply chain ecosystem that will allow carriers, airlines, and supply chain operators to optimize and transport their shipments across multi-modal networks throughout the first, mid and last-mile,” he said.

Customers can stay ahead of the competition by using machine learning capabilities to analyze and process 160 million businesses and its 1.4 quadrillion global routes on supercomputers.

For instance, Quincus’ platform can provide real-time updates around supply chain disruptions, allowing customers to make crucial decisions on the movement of goods and ensure the best way forward.

Lacey, who is chief product officer at Quincus, said, “We believe that Quincus’ approach to supply chain technology innovation could reshape the movement of goods and commerce around the world and eventually, grow economies. With Quincus’ data lake, where data is consolidated, analyzed, and fed into a single dashboard, customers will have the opportunity to make better decisions in a complex situation, such as applying mitigation measures to minimize environmental impact.”

Welcoming Ally Warson of UP. Partners to the board, Savoir said their vision of powering mobility worldwide is a perfect match for Quincus’s mission in enabling speedier and more efficient supply chains.

“Mobility technologies will play a massive role in the future in getting not just people from point A to point B in the most efficient ways, but goods as well. Together with UP.Partners, we look forward to unlocking the full potential of those technologies,” Savoir told NNA.

Warson believes international supply chains are ripe for disruption as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced global logistics players to fundamentally rethink how they operate.

“The digitization imperative has accelerated faster than ever. Quincus’ solution solves strategic pain points across the entire logistics chain,” said Warson.

“COVID-19 has accelerated the digital transformation of the global logistics industry, creating opportunities for new entrants and disrupting incumbents in the supply chain ecosystem,” said Liew of GGV Capital, adding that Quincus’ use of AI and machine learning ability can radically improve supply chains.

According to Verified Market Research, the cloud supply chain management market size was valued at $12.44 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $222.23 billion by 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41 percent from 2021 to 2028.

Meanwhile the blockchain supply chain management market size reached $271 million in 2020. It is expected to hit $14.18 billion in 2028, registering a CAGR of 63.9 percent in 2028, according to the latest analysis by Emergen Research.

It said, “Steady market revenue growth can be attributed to the increasing need for transparency in the supply chain, technological advancements in transactions in the supply chain are factors driving rising focus on improving data security and maintaining records of transactions. In addition, this trend is expected to continue during the forecast period.”

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