As the Earth’s temperature continues to rise, companies across the nation are paying closer attention to their greenhouse gas emissions and are doing their part to reduce them. However, different industries face their own challenges when it comes to shrinking their carbon footprint, particularly along the supply chain due to emissions from manufacturing, transportation, and even storage and distribution.
There are plenty of areas to improve sustainability along the supply chain, and Blume Global is working to remove $1 trillion of waste from supply chains around the world by helping companies optimize assets and kick wasteful practices. Blume offers more than 10,000 customers around the world a cloud-based operating platform that orchestrates supply chain processes through a digital map. Its carbon-neutral solution was recently backed by a fresh injection of venture capital from Bridgepoint Group, bringing Blume’s valuation to $500 million and enabling the company to grow its Atlanta presence.
“We are currently working on securing office space in the Atlanta area,” Glenn Jones, global VP of product strategy, told Built In via email. “The pandemic has proven that we can work virtually and be successful. Growing our business in Atlanta and elsewhere is our number one priority.”
Based in Pleasanton, California, Blume set its sights on the Peach State to build out its presence for a variety of reasons. For starters, Atlanta has a strong logistics industry — a trait highlighted during the growth of e-commerce over the course of the pandemic. Atlanta’s also a prime location for international supply chain companies due to the size of its airport and its nearby location to the container port in Savannah.
Blume’s platform is powered by a range of tech capabilities, including AI, machine learning, natural language processing, robotic automation and IoT tech, according to the company’s website. It offers logistics service providers, shippers and carries solutions for asset management and optimization, freight audit and pay, supply chain visibility and more.
“When we launched Blume Global in 2018, we saw an opportunity to build a cloud-based digital operating platform for global supply chains that leverages modern technologies and machine learning to optimize and automate operations,” Pervinder Johar, the company’s CEO, said in a statement. “Since then, we have only seen increased demand for a supply chain transparency and orchestration platform like ours. We are thrilled by this new investment from Bridgepoint Group to help fund our continued growth.”
At the time of its launch, Blume had a headcount of 90 people. Today, it’s made up of 450 employees spanning San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Hong Kong, Europe and Bangalore, India. Johar told Atlanta Inno he plans to reach a worldwide headcount of 600 by the end of this year and 2,000 by the end of 2022.
As hiring continues, Blume aims to recruit local talent via university internships and hiring initiatives. The company currently lists over a dozen available Atlanta-based roles on its website.
