SaaS startup Aramid Technologies announced it has raised $2M in seed funding to expand its flagship product, SmartCert. SmartCert is a supplier collaboration platform that streamlines the processes by which companies prepare, manage and share quality certifications that underpin trillions of dollars in global commerce.
Phoenix angel, Paul Winandy, led the round with participation from TitletownTech, Synetro Ventures, Subconscious Ventures, Chicago Early, Lofty Ventures, and a distinguished list of individual investors. “We are excited to invest in Aramid alongside this excellent group,” said Paul Winandy who is joining the Aramid Board. “With the breakdown in global supply chains, manufacturers and distributors are focusing intently on automating and streamlining outdated processes and technology systems. Aramid has a proven solution, experienced team and is poised to become the industry standard for certification management.”
Global industries ranging from aerospace to medical to clothing require suppliers to certify in writing that every shipment meets customer requirements. Known by names like certificates of analysis, material certifications, and certificates of conformance, among others, they are typically prepared manually, exchanged via email, portal, or hard copy in a process that is labor intensive, not integrated, and characterized by frequently having to replace certifications that were lost downstream. “After spending my career seeing how much time, money and opportunity was wasted due to cert problems, I knew there had to be a better way” said Aramid Co-Founder and CEO Lyndon Lattie.
“While businesses have an abundance of internal tools to manage documents, they lack solutions for exchanging digital documents and attaching them to real-world goods and products outside their walls. We see Aramid’s SmartCert supplier collaboration platform as having potential to transform inter-supplier processes and connect supply chain platforms,” noted Neil Mix, Partner at TitletownTech.
The team is uniquely qualified to exploit this opportunity, with Lattie’s intimate knowledge of the problem and industry, having spent 20 years selling engineered products into the aerospace, medical device and general industrial supply chains. His co-founders are Lonni Kieffer, a former Gannett and advertising agency executive, and Paul Decker, an experienced PE and VC backed CEO who has led three industrial technology companies to successful exits.
The seed funding will enable Aramid to optimize SmartCert’s sales and onboarding processes, strengthen the technology team, and expand the product offering.
Aramid Technologies is a subscription supplier collaboration platform that is taking the paper and the work out of supply chain paperwork. Its flagship product, SmartCert, was launched in 2021 and streamlines the laborious and error prone process of preparing and exchanging quality certifications. SmartCert serves as the foundation for the future of digitizing and automating compliance documentation in global supply chains.
Formed out of a partnership between the Green Bay Packers and Microsoft, the TitletownTech Venture Fund and Studio builds, enables, and invests in early-stage, high-growth ventures. The organization leverages the region’s strengths targeting innovation across five key verticals: sports, media, and entertainment; digital health; agriculture, water & environment; manufacturing & construction tech; and supply chain technology.
