South Africa’s Granite WMS, an easy to use barcode-based warehouse management system developed by Cradle Technology Services has raised undisclosed funding from Knife Capital to fuel its international expansion.
Granite It integrates into various Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and accounting software packages and expands warehouse operations and business processes to help deliver products on time, accurately and cost-effectively.
Craig Collins, CEO and Co-Founder of Cradle said, “We now have enough traction with a robust Software as a Service (SaaS) offering to aggressively ramp up local and international business development and marketing efforts. Knife Capital’s funding is a key growth enabler, but the team’s track record in partnering with local entrepreneurs to scale SMEs for.”
Founded in 2000 by Craig and Delia Collins to sell barcode scanners, label printers and labels, the firm launched Granite WMS in 2010 with proprietary technology, embracing best practices but reducing complexity for the user. Granite WMS grew from there to become a leader in SME warehousing solutions, focused on integration with Sage 300, Sage 200 Evolution, SAP B1 or as a standalone operation. It is currently implemented in over 100 sites across 3 continents and in over 40 different industry sectors.
In 2018 Cradle was one of the ten companies selected for the fourth cohort of Knife Capital’s Grindstone Accelerator – a structured entrepreneurship development programme that assists high-growth innovation-driven SMEs to become sustainable and fundable.
Granite WMS is the second investment for Knife Capital after Quicket, a cloud-based ticketing platform.
“Investing in Cradle to scale the Granite WMS solution is an exciting business to add to the Knife Capital venture capital portfolio. It already achieved sustainability through its business operations with a blue-chip client base, 35 employees, significant revenue growth and profitability,” says Keet van Zyl, Investment Partner at Knife.
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The market fundamentals are also solid, taking advantage of growth in the e-commerce industry, emerging multichannel distribution channels, globalisation of supply chain networks, increased adoption of on-cloud WMS solutions, and the rising need for efficient forecasting models by SMEs.
According to Grand View Research, the global WMS market size is expected to reach USD 5.72 billion by 2025, progressing at a CAGR of 16.3% during the forecast period. But while many warehouse systems are expensive and take considerable time to implement, Granite delivers high end turn-key WMS functionality at an acceptable price-point, making it appealing for mid-sized companies.
