The key to manufacturing: our investment in Katana

We’re thrilled to announce our latest investment: Katana, the leading manufacturing ERP software company for SMEs. We have led their $35m Series B round with the participation of Lightrock and existing investors Atomico and 42CAP. As part of the round, our partner Michiel Kotting will join the board. Supply chain disruptions, shifting consumer preferences, and geopolitical uncertainties have driven a huge amount of change in the manufacturing industry. As the ‘Made in China’ era draws to a close and the focus on local, sustainable production increases, a new wave of small and medium-sized manufacturers has come to market. Today this generation is woefully underserved, relying on spreadsheets or outdated business suites that hold them back via poor UX, prohibitive pricing, and a lack of integrations to essential components such as e-commerce, accounting, and shipping tools.  

Katana’s modern, flexible approach to manufacturing ERP software gives SMEs an ecosystem of tools and features that seamlessly integrate to help them plan, manage and optimise all aspects of their businesses. While the core platform offers features such as production planning, inventory optimisation, and omnichannel order management, the company’s integration-led approach also means it connects to some of the most popular tools that businesses rely on such as Shopify, QuickBooks, and Xero. Finally, the entire platform has been built with a relentless focus on providing world-class UX, and businesses can get up and running on Katana within days, compared to weeks with traditional solutions. 

Founded in 2017, Katana serves over 1,300 companies across the world that range from single-person workshops to multi-million dollar manufacturing businesses. Founders Kristjan Vilosius (CEO), Priit Kaasik (CTO) and Hannes Kert (CCO) have scaled their original team to 140 employees across North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. The team includes world-class product, design and engineering talent from companies such as TransferWise, Pipedrive, Bolt and Skype. The new funding will be used to accelerate Katana’s feature development and scale their commercial team as they expand to new markets. 

Our partner Michiel Kotting added: “We’ve been deeply impressed with Kristjan and the team, who combine strong product skills, essential to building something as complicated and powerful as a basic ERP system, with commercial savviness and drive. We believe this unlocks the next category in modern-day, modular, user-friendly software, and has the potential to be a defining business in that category.” 

We’re incredibly excited to join Katana on their journey to set a new standard in manufacturing ERP and become a cornerstone to helping thousands of businesses succeed.