Digital Transformation: a unicorn arrives in the UK

Joao Guarisse, UK Sales Director of o9 Solutions

Digital Transformation: a unicorn arrives in the UK

April was an eventful month for the American software company o9 Solutions, Inc. The Dallas-based firm completed its first fundraising round, receiving a $100m investment from KKR and becoming a ‘unicorn’ valued at more than $1bn. In addition, less than two years after opening its first office in Europe, the digital supply chain planning company decided to enter the UK market in its efforts to speed up growth outside North America.

o9 Solutions was founded by Sanjiv Sidhu in 2009. In 1988, Sanjiv had started i2 Technologies, another software firm which was sold in 2010 to JDA for over $600m. He then created o9 in order to use cutting-edge data technologies to help make the supply chains of large companies more agile and resilient. The o9 platform is able to generate a digital twin of each organization, allowing full end-to-end supply chain visibility and real-time scenario creation. 

The company now has more than 500 employees worldwide, including more than fifty in Europe. Their current client list includes prestigious names such as Nike, Estée Lauder, Starbucks, Walmart, ExxonMobil, Pirelli, and AB Inbev. The new London office aims to help UK companies accelerate their digital transformations and deal with supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 crisis, Brexit and the US-China trade war. "We are currently hiring and plan to have 5-10 additional employees by the end of the year" said Joao Guarisse, the UK country sales director of o9 Solutions, who previously worked as an engagement manager at McKinsey and Company. According to him, a functional prototype of the platform can be operational within 90 days. 

To find out more  visit the o9 website here - https://o9solutions.com/