Pre-seed round led by Supply Change Capital, with participation from Green Circle Foodtech Ventures and Velocity Catalyst. Founders previously built companies acquired by DocuSign and Workday
CHICAGO, Nov. 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kodiact, the intelligent simulation platform for direct materials sourcing, today announced $2.5M in pre-seed funding led by Supply Change Capital, with participation from Green Circle Foodtech Ventures and Velocity Catalyst. Kodiact helps food, beverage, and consumer goods manufacturers manage the raw materials that drive most of their product costs, replacing static annual sourcing plans with living strategies that update as markets move.
Between early 2023 and late 2024, cocoa prices rose nearly fivefold to a record high, forcing chocolate makers to raise prices. And cocoa isn't an outlier. Since 2020, tariffs, climate-driven crop failures, and repeated supply shocks have made ingredients, packaging, and other direct materials harder to predict, and raw-material risk is now a regular topic in the boardroom. Yet the decisions behind these costs are still largely made in spreadsheets, using category strategies refreshed once a year.
Procurement leaders are moving to fix this: Chief Procurement Officers now put about 20% of their budgets toward procurement technology, nearly double the share in 2023, according to Deloitte. But most procurement software was built for indirect spend like office supplies and travel, leaving direct materials largely unaddressed.
Kodiact sits on top of existing ERP systems like SAP and Microsoft Dynamics and connects every material a manufacturer buys to the market forces that move its price. When a commodity spikes, Kodiact shows which products and margins are exposed, recommends what to do, and lets teams simulate a decision before it reaches the P&L. Every decision and its outcome is recorded in a single ledger, so a company's buying judgment builds over time instead of resetting with each new hire.
Launched in May 2026, Kodiact already covers over 500 raw materials across 23 categories, delivering immediate impact for enterprise procurement leaders and earning recognition from industry analysts:
"Kodiact lets us model and rehearse our decisions before we make them. We're pleased to be part of their early adopter program applying advanced AI capabilities to our category strategy," said John Hutchinson, Director of Procurement at AG Barr.
"As the saying goes, vision without execution is hallucination. Kodiact finally brings a solution to direct materials that goes far beyond just category management. It matches the need for agility and velocity to actual capabilities," said Bertrand Maltaverne, Director, Solution Intelligence, The Hackett Group.
The company was co-founded by CEO Steve Tucker and COO Dan Daehler, who have lived with this problem for their entire careers. Over 25 years working together, they built a procurement consultancy acquired by an SAP partner and an AI contract-management company acquired by DocuSign. Tucker most recently led sales at Evisort through its acquisition by Workday. CTO Jonathan Lee, a former founder and AI engineer, joined in 2026.
"When I was trading cocoa, the best buyers carried the whole market in their heads, and when they left, that knowledge left with them," said Steve Tucker, Co-Founder and CEO of Kodiact. "Thirty years later, most manufacturers still manage their highest cost on spreadsheets. We built Kodiact so every buyer can see what's coming, test their options, and act before volatility hits the bottom line."
Investor Perspectives
"Direct materials are where manufacturers win or lose on margin, and where climate shocks and trade volatility hit first. Yet most sourcing decisions are still made on spreadsheets and strategies that are outdated within months," said Shayna Harris, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Supply Change Capital. "Steve and Dan have spent 25 years inside this problem, and they're building what procurement leaders have told us they can't build themselves. Kodiact turns every sourcing decision into institutional knowledge that compounds over time, which is exactly the kind of resilience the food system needs."
"For large manufacturers of food and beverage products, even incremental improvements in the accuracy and efficiency of purchasing decisions made for direct inputs can represent tens of millions in savings that drop to the bottom line," said Stu Strumwasser, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Green Circle Foodtech Ventures.
"Kodiact is using AI to solve a massive problem in direct materials sourcing for food and beverage manufacturers. As more large manufacturers see these tools as a must-have, we anticipate rapid adoption," said Desiree Vargas Wrigley, Founding GP of Velocity Catalyst.
The $2.5M in fresh funding will support three primary growth priorities:
- Product: Expanding Kodiact's market data, simulation, and AI agent capabilities.
- Customers: Expanding enterprise deployments with food, beverage, and consumer goods manufacturers.
- Go-to-market: Building strategic partnerships and expanding into other industries with high raw-material spend, including cosmetics, packaging, and chemicals.
About Kodiact
Kodiact is the intelligent simulation platform for direct materials sourcing. Built initially for food, beverage, and consumer goods manufacturers, Kodiact connects every material to its underlying price drivers and every decision to a single ledger, helping procurement teams turn market signals into strategy and action before volatility reaches the P&L. Kodiact is based in Chicago, San Francisco and London. Learn more atwww.kodiact.com.
Media Contact
Jessica Warren
VP Product Marketing, Kodiact
jessica.warren@kodiact.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/268b9af2-fdc4-49c5-a731-6b587a624990
