Spend Matters Releases its 2021 Procurement Technology “50 Providers to Know,” “50 Providers to Watch” and “Future 5” Lists

Announcements to be Made at Sourcing Industry Group’s Global Executive Summit

For the 8th year in a row, Spend Matters has released its annual “50 Procurement Providers to Know” and “50 Procurement Providers to Watch” lists — plus the 3rd annual “Future 5” list of noted start-ups. Each year, our technology analysts assess the capabilities for an array of companies across 10 procurement technology market sectors to determine the lists totaling 105 vendors in the industry. These represent the best-in-class companies you need to know about as well as the up-and-coming, growing firms to keep your eye on.

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This year, the lists are being released in conjunction with the SIG Global Executive Summit taking place Monday through Wednesday in Carlsbad, California.

“We are so excited to be hosting the announcement of the ‘50 Procurement Providers to Know’ and ‘50 Procurement Providers to Watch’ at the 2021 SIG Global Executive Summit,” said Dawn Tiura, CEO of Sourcing Industry Group (SIG). “The analysts at Spend Matters bring technology alive and always provide such incredible insights for our members.”

The 2021 lists include nine providers that have earned the “50 Providers to Know” distinction each and every year the lists have been published! These include Basware, Beeline, Coupa, DocuSign (Seal Software), GEP, SpendHQ, Ivalua, Jaggaer and Oracle. Whereas ABBYY, Fleetcor and Kofax Readsoft are brand-new to the 2021 “to Know” list.

Eight vendors jumped from the “Watch” to the “Know” list, including Brightfield (TDX), Conga (including Apptus), EC Sourcing, IntegrityNext, Suplari (Microsoft), Tealbook, Transfermate and VNDLY. Almost one-third of the “50 Providers to Watch” list represents new honorees, with 13 companies included for the first time.

In addition, 2021 marks the 3rd annual release of the “Future 5” list by Spend Matters. Throughout the year, the analysts issue analyses of procurement tech newcomers. This list is comprised out of the most impressive procurement technology start-ups that meet the following criteria:

• Is less than 5 years old, ideally with less than  2 years in the market (official product launch)
• Has 5+ customers
• Has an innovative, interesting application of technology
• Maintains clear momentum and sustainability
• Has less than $10 million in revenue

The 2021 Future 5 providers are:

• Archlet — an e-sourcing provider that describes itself as a tool that enables optimization and scenario-based sourcing, key data-backed analytics and insights to drive quicker sourcing decisions. Archlet does not claim to be a complete sourcing tool — it augments existing sourcing applications and is integrated with two SAP solutions (SAP Ariba and S/4HANA).
• Circulor — a young and ascending supply chain visibility vendor. It tracks and traces minerals starting at the mine and continuing to the OEM using reporting data and statistical process-control methodology. Circulor bills itself as “TAAS” (traceability-as-a-service) for material provenance, creating a “digital twin” of your product.
• Malbek — a CLM vendor that focuses on maintaining an approachable interface, configurable settings, easy integrations and a strong, modern cloud platform. It hits a sweet spot of strong technical underpinnings, check-the-box CLM functionality as well as innovations, all at a reasonable price point. The vendor can both scale down to small customers and up to larger deployments.
• Pactum — a young, AI-powered vendor that negotiates tail-spend deals with the goal of delivering optimal results for both parties. It releases neglected capital from unmanaged long-tail vendors to reinforce EBITDA and “create value out of thin air.”
• Zip — a new vendor that describes itself as operating in a new segment adjacent to and overlapping with P2P known as “intake-to-procure.” Its value proposition is to provide both requesters and stakeholders with an “intelligent, intuitive front-end to their ERP or P2P.”

“Never has procurement technology been more front of mind for businesses,” says Nick Heinzmann, Analyst Team Lead at Spend Matters, “With companies heavily scrutinizing their supply chains and bottom lines to protect against volatility, the procurement technology space has in 2021 gained only greater notoriety — from customers and investors alike.

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“In the context of global shocks, innovative new takes on what ‘source-to-pay’ includes and an urgent re-evaluation of what businesses should value beyond the balance sheet, we’re pleased to present Spend Matters’ annual ’50 Providers to Know,’ ’50 Providers to Watch’ and ‘Future 5’ listees, determined by the entire Spend Matters analyst team to represent the best of the technology providers that serve procurement, finance and supply chain organizations. We’re also featuring the winners of the DPW DEMO21 pitch competition, sharing exclusive feedback from the jurors on who came out on top and why.

“All of these companies are featured in the Spend Matters Almanac, our free vendor directory. With 513 validated companies (and counting), the directory is a quick, self-service reference featuring the relevant procurement technology providers you need to consider as you identify your digital transformation partners.”

To be considered by the Spend Matters analyst team for next year’s lists, procurement technology providers can create a free listing in the Spend Matters’ Almanac.

The Spend Matters Almanac is the most comprehensive technology and service directory of procurement and supply chain solution providers — and is the go-to resource for end-user buyers looking to make a tech selection. The Almanac contains 500+ vendor descriptions across 50+ service/technology categories as well as listings of unbiased Spend Matters’ analyst insights and related articles in the “our view” and “our coverage” sections.

Note: Please mark your calendar for a “50 to Know,” “50 to Watch” and “Future 5” selection-review webinar on Monday, Nov. 15, at 11 am Central time. The entire Spend Matters analyst team will highlight what you should know about the procurement technology and service providers on the 2021 lists.