Germany-based Qualifyze raises €12M to eliminate bottlenecks in the pharma industry; here’s how

Frankfurt-based Qualifyze, an online platform for supplier audits, announced that it has raised $14M (approx €12M) in its Series A round of funding. The round was led by HV Capital. Existing investors also participated in this round including Cherry Ventures,  Rheingau Founders, APX, and Dr. Udo Jung.

Pain point of the industry

According to Qualifyze, many industries face product recalls and supply chain issues. However, they are particularly critical in the pharmaceutical industry, where recalls can have dramatic effects, and can quickly lead to supply bottlenecks for medicine.

Between 2000 and 2018, bottlenecks as such have increased 20-fold across the EU, and currently, up to 50 per cent of the drugs missing are needed for the likes of cancer therapy, anti-infectives (vaccines), and treatment of diseases related to the nervous system (epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease). With such issues, pharmaceutical companies lose out on billions of Euros and also cause delays in their research into developing new drugs.

This is where Qualifyze looks to operate.

The solution!

Qualifyze wants to solve the problem of supply shortages in the pharmaceutical industry. Through its platform, the startup continuously collects data from factories worldwide and makes it available to its customers once consent from the supplier has been obtained.

Co-CEO of Qualifyze, Dr. David Schneider explains, “Qualifyze helps pharmaceutical companies ensure quality standards in the supply chain by giving them access to the world’s largest cloud-based supplier database. By continuously integrating supplier data, companies can better assess risks in the supply chain and always improve. This takes us beyond just compliance, as we identify trends and intelligently connect and analyse data points.”

In order to identify and eliminate potential problem areas at an early stage, Qualifyze is working with AI-driven analytical tools. In the future, the startup aims to offer a Compliance-as-a-Service model, and provide liability guarantees for supply chains in addition to auditing and data evaluation.

Capital utilisation

The proceeds from this round will enable Qualifyze to grow its affiliated suppliers 10-fold and further increase workforce across its German and Spanish offices.

Co-CEO of Qualifyze, Florian Hildebrand adds, “With HV Capital, we now have a partner who can help us achieve our ambitions even faster. Our aspiration is to create something significant for the industry and at the same time, play a central role in a sustainable and economic future. True supply chain control only works through reliable and continuous data. There is no alternative to our approach.”

About Qualifyze

Qualifyze (formerly ChemSquare) was founded out of a PhD programme at the Technical University of Darmstadt in September 2017. Its vision is to enable companies to build and maintain secure and sustainable supply chains. Since its Seed funding just over twelve months ago, the team has tripled its turnover and grown its client base to over 400 customers.