DB eVentures, Deutsche Bank's private equity fund focused on financial services, has invested $3 million in e-commerce solution provider EssentialMarkets. The US-based firm is supplying an e-procurement solution for use by the bank's suppliers around the world.
Deutsche's investment in the company was announced as part of an event in which EssentialMarkets unveiled its latest e-procurement product, EM Transact 2.0.
"We've experienced first-hand that EssentialMarkets provides a flexible e-business solution for both buyers and suppliers," says David Mellor, managing director, Deutsche Bank eVentures. "The opportunity for suppliers, irrespective of size, to integrate with the bank's global procurement platform on a seamless and cost-effective basis represents a key component in the bank's procurement strategy.".
EM Transact is a supply-side solution that automates the procurement process. The product allows suppliers to build a customised Web site, set specific business rules, load and manage multiple catalogues, and establish online ordering, billing and shipping functions. When a larger buyer's supply chain is e-procurement enabled, buyers see lowered costs, higher efficiency, reduced maverick spending and a better delivery cycle, the company claims.
Todd Ostrander, president and CEO of EssentialMarkets, says: "We have effectively eliminated the barriers that have kept suppliers, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, from doing business on the Internet. With our Web-based application, EssentialMarkets has levelled the playing field so every supplier can have an affordable link into its customers' e-procurement systems, regardless of whether that platform is Ariba, Commerce One, RightWorks or Clarus."