Stimulus Raises Oversubscribed $2.5M Seed Round to Help Companies Build Better Supplier Relationships

Stimulus Inc., a Philadelphia-based relationship intelligence (SaaS) startup in the supply chain space, raised an oversubscribed $2.5M seed round led by Black Ops VC, other notable investors – Genius Guild, Morgan Stanley, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, REFASHIOND Ventures, Bronze Valley, The BFM Fund, Plain Sight Capital, Penn Medicine – Wharton Fund for Health, and a host of angel investors.

“Tiffanie’s subject matter expertise after spending years around the problem was really clear from the start. Stimulus is an elegant solution that has a user experience designed specifically for the workflow of enterprise procurement teams. The hole in the market was clear to our team, so we were more than excited to get behind the platform and Tiffanie”, James Norman, General Partner, Black Ops VC.

“Last year, Northwestern Mutual announced Black Ops VC as one of our $100 million impact fund recipients. We are eager to invest in Stimulus alongside Black Ops Ventures through the Northwestern Mutual Black Founder Accelerator. Coinvesting in Stimulus is only the beginning – we will continue to funnel Black founders to more capital opportunities as we reinforce an ecosystem that strives to close the racial equity gap,” said Moiz Dawoodbhai, Assistant Director of Strategic Investing, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures.

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Supply chain and logistics are rapidly growing, it is a nearly $10 trillion market representing more than 10% of the global GDP today. Over the last two years, we’ve witnessed massive shocks to global supply chains and the recent Executive Order on America’s Supply Chains has made supply chain resilience a top priority for all companies.

Corporations spend more on suppliers than any other balance sheet item because procurement is the single biggest cost driver for any organization. Most B2B Sales happens in person and is a relationship-driven process. Gartner says 80% of B2B Sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels by 2025. This is extremely important as the length of the purchase cycle has increased significantly and now involves multiple stakeholders.

This is where Stimulus comes in. The Stimulus’ Relationship Intelligence Platform (SRIP) stands out in the industry as it combines data insights, relationship-building tools, and a proprietary score to help companies make the best sourcing, procurement, and purchasing decisions, while optimizing and growing their supplier ecosystems.

The platform provides visibility to enable sourcing and procurement teams to analyze supplier data and view actionable insights – helping companies build honest, transparent relationships that lead to better business outcomes. The goal isn’t just to save money or streamline the supply chain but to fulfill business objectives including location-based and DEI criteria by easily comparing suppliers using relevant metrics and data points, and quickly matching them to available contract opportunities.

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“We are excited that Genius Guild Greenhouse Fund’s has invested in Stimulus. At a time when the focus on corporate social responsibility is at an all-time high and when supply-chain woes are a constant presence in our news headlines, the conditions are ripe for a solution to the complex management of vendor and supplier relationships.” Kathryn Finney, Managing Partner, Genius Guild Greenhouse Fund.

Founder and CEO of Stimulus, Tiffanie Stanard, is an award-winning entrepreneur and former executive in vendor management with over 15 years of experience working with vendors and suppliers for some of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States. She holds a Bachelor of Science in business management. Stanard has been named One of the 15 Women Changing the Face of Tech, Top 20 Female Cloud Leaders in 2021, among many more honors.

“This funding round will go towards expanding the Stimulus Platform, hiring in three areas: engineering, data and sales; and expanding partnerships with companies that have a shared goal of building better relationships with their suppliers and diversifying their supply chain.” Tiffanie Stanard, Founder/CEO – Stimulus.

Stimulus launched the platform in 2020, has a team of 8 and has grown its revenue 4x in the six figures. The product can work across industries but have gained traction within Healthcare, Education and Professional Services. Stimulus previously raised a $1M pre-seed round with non-dilutive, dilutive and debt capital from Google for Startups, StartupPHL, Juno Capital, Darco Capital, Gabriel Investments, Segal Ventures, Microsoft Partner Capital Fund, and angels.

“The world is becoming more complex – sourcing and procurement can confer important, strategic competitive advantages. We invested in Stimulus because we have unwavering faith and confidence in Tiffanie’s leadership. We believe the team at Stimulus possesses the right blend of experience to solve the problems that confront sourcing and procurement teams.” Brian Laung Aoaeh, CFA – Founder & Managing General Partner, REFASHIOND Ventures.