O9 Solutions Inc., makers of a platform for managing supply chains in vertical industries, today said it raised $295 million in funding on a valuation of $2.7 billion.

That’s nearly triple the valuation the company earned when it announced a $100 million private investment from KKR & Co. Inc. in April 2020.

Founded in 2009, o9 sells a digital management platform that gives organizations increased visibility into their supply chain and business operations along with analytics, planning tools, collaboration and decision-making tools powered by artificial intelligence. Its “Digital Brain” helps with planning in the areas of supply chain, revenue, product development, production and finance.

Customers use the platform to build a live, digital model of enterprise data to detect demand and supply risks and opportunities as well as improve forecasts and run what-if simulations. The benefits, the company says, come not only in operational improvements but in sustainability dividends customers reap from improving supply chain efficiency.

Supply chains are one of the murkiest areas of product-based businesses, and many experts estimate that even the best organizations have real-time visibility into only about 20% of the process of taking goods from manufacturer to customer. A Frost and Sullivan Inc. survey conducted before the pandemic found that 85% of chief supply chain officers said they were having increasing difficulty predicting and proactively managing disruptions and risks. And a Dimensional Research report commissioned by Supplyframe found that 91% of electronics companies said sourcing issues are the cause of product launch delays.

Environmental benefits are one of the reasons the company attracted backing in this round from BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic, and former Vice President Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management LLP, a pure-play sustainability investment manager.

Earlier this month, o9 said its annual recurring revenue from new customers grew 400% over the last 12 months off an undisclosed base, and it expanded into the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The year-end employee base of 1,600 people nearly doubled over the previous year.

Investors have been money into the supply chain sector in the wake of pandemic-fueled disruptions. Among the startups that the Wall Street Journal said surpassed $1 billion valuations in 2021 are shipping logistics platform ShipBob Inc., shipping logistics provider Stord Inc. and shared shipping specialist Flock Freight Inc. which scored a $215 million investment round in October.

O9 recently expanded into the retail, semiconductor and consumer packaged goods markets, bringing the number of vertical industries it serves to 27.

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